


Running Away, Only to Run Into You

by AckbarOnDeck



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: AU, Clarke the Speeder, F/F, Flirting, Fluff, I thought of this while driving, I'm not even sure why i wrote this, Lexa the Trooper, Modern AU, but I did, motly fluff and flirting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-11
Updated: 2016-01-12
Packaged: 2018-03-30 03:08:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 43,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3920665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AckbarOnDeck/pseuds/AckbarOnDeck
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clarke runs away from her problems </p><p>Or</p><p>Lexa is a good Trooper and Clarke was caught speeding</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Crappy Days and Interesting Evenings

**Author's Note:**

> Hey all, I don't own any of the characters, an all that.  
> This is my first Fic, so let me know what you think. Criticism is appreciated (but like, the constructive kind).  
> I'm new here so I'm still trying to work on the formatting and such

  
Clarke was fuming. She couldn’t believe the nerve of some people. Or, more accurately, she couldn’t believe the nerve of her now ex-boyfriend. They had only been dating for two months, but it was enough to know they complemented each other in a good way; she was happy and looking forward to a future with Finn, which was something that she, Clarke Griffin, did not do. She was more of an ‘in the moment’ kind of person, so when she planned ahead with someone in mind, they were pretty fucking important. Or they were, until she walked into their apartment to find them having dinner – _a candle lit dinner_ – with some other girl.  


  
And that’s how she found herself speeding down the backroad of a town she wasn’t even certain the name of. All she knew was that she needed to get away and she needed to get away fast, and she headed west to do it. Unfortunately for Clarke, who is usually very calm headed in situations that drive her friends crazy with road rage, driving when she’s _already angry_ just doesn’t work well, the proof in the flashing red and blue lights of a dark trooper car behind her. She groans as she looks at her speedometer – 65 in what was probably a 45 at best, though she couldn’t say for sure – and starts pulling to the shoulder, which is mostly dirt at this point. Where the hell was she? Nothing even looked familiar.  


  
Clarke sighed and rubbed her eyes as she waited for the trooper to give her her inevitable reprimand, with a side of speeding ticket. Today was just not her day.  


  
She tried not to groan when she heard the tap on her window, and instead rolled it down, finally looking at the Trooper. The woman Trooper. The very _attractive_ woman Trooper, who was unreadable behind her aviators. Clarke gave a sheepish smile, wondering if the day could get any worse. (It could).  


  
“License and Registration,” the Attractive Trooper said. Clarke shook her head slightly; of course she would have a voice to match her face, pretty, yet reserved. Clarke wondered briefly how it would sound under different circumstances, perhaps breathless and needy, before she snapped out of it. This was not the time to be thinking about rebounds, and certainly not with the law enforcement official who just pulled her over. _I would likely get charged with soliciting an officer if I tried anything anyway,_ she scolded herself as she dug through her purse, grabbing the required paperwork.  
  
The Trooper – A. Crew, her name badge read – took them when Clarke offered the documents up, before turning and walking away a few feet in front of Clarkes car and looking the information over. It was only a moment before she came back, Clarke keeping her eyes focused on Officer Crew the whole time.  
  
“So Ms. Griffin,” Officer Crew started when she got back to the open window, “do you know why I pulled you over this evening?”  
  
Clarke knew, of _course_ she knew, she was speeding. What she didn’t know was what the best tactic in this situation was, to tell the truth or to play dumb. All Clarke was able to form was the word “umm…” as she tried to process both the sound of “Ms. Griffin” coming from the mouth of this beautiful stranger, and how to possibly escape a speeding ticket, before Officer Crew spoke again.  
  
“Do you have any idea how fast you were going, Ms. Griffin?”  
  
This time Clarke spoke without thinking, something she sometimes did under pressure. It usually works out. “Not fast enough to run away from my problems, but apparently fast enough to catch some more.”  
  
Officer Crew raised an eyebrow coolly above her aviators. “Sorry,” Clarke said, “I’ve just had a rough day, if you were wondering where that came from. No excuse for speeding though, I know.”  
  
Officer Crew gave a slight nod, as if she was agreeing with Clarke, before continuing, “You were going 67 and the speed limit here is 40. Mind telling me where you’re off to in such a hurry, Ms. Griffin?”  
  
Clarke winces, _damn. 27 miles over the speed limit. I sure fucked up this time._ “Um, actually, it’s not where I’m going, but where I came from. This is actually a bit embarrassing, but I’m not even sure what town this is.”  
  
Officer Crew took a cautious step back, hand on her left hip, where her taser rested. “Have you been drinking tonight, Ms. Griffin?”  
  
Clarke barked out a laugh, before responding with “I wish!” only to then cover her mouth with her hands as her eyes went wide as she looked at Officer Crew. “Oh my God I didn’t mean it like that. I would never drink and drive, I swear. Sometimes I just talk without a filter” _like when I’m talking to pretty women,_ Clarke thinks, but luckily stops that part from slipping out. “But I’m working on it. Talking with a filter. Not the drinking and driving part.” Clarke closed her eyes in embarrassment, she really did need to work on that filter. “And now I’m going to stop talking,” she said as she looked back up to Officer Crew, who seemed to have an amused smirk on her face, but it may have been a trick of the fading twilight and Clarkes thought addled brain.  
  
“I see. So then, Ms. Griffin, where are you running from, if you don’t have a place you’re running to?” Officer Crew was as professional as ever, but Clarke thought there might have been still a trace of her amusement in that question. “You must be from out of town, I’ve never seen you around these parts before. Oh, and you’re currently in the small town of Heda,” she tacked on as an afterthought.  
  
“Heda? Damn I made good time,” Clarke murmurs to herself, with a bit of pride, as she glances at the dash clock. She had left about 30 minutes ago and Heda had to be at least three towns over from Skyville. Officer Crew clearing her throat as she leaned her hand against the top of Clarke’s car caught her attention again. “Oh, um, I mean to say that I’m from Skyville, about three towns over I think?”  
  
“And why are you running from Skyville, Ms. Griffin? Is there something I need to be concerned about? Drugs, kidnappers, a blackmailer perhaps?”  
  
Clarke looked at Officer Crew, she couldn’t tell if she was joking or not. Those damn glasses hid too much of her face, but her mouth and lips were set in a stoic line, so she just answered as truthfully as she could. “Ah, no, nothing of that sort,” Clarke said with a nervous smile, “just your run of the mill domestic problems.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she knew she could have said that in so many different ways, all of them so much better. Before she could correct herself though, Officer Crew dropped her arm from the car and straightened up, looking even more serious than before, this time lips pressed into a thin line.  
  
“Is someone abusing you at home, Ms. Griffin? You can report them – ”  
  
“No no no, nothing like that! I can assure you,” Clarke says quickly before Officer Crew could say any more. Honestly, this misunderstanding was Officer Crew’s fault in the first place. Clarke couldn’t talk without sounding like an idiot, because every time she says “Ms. Griffin,” in that voice, Clarke loses her train of thought. Her explanation tumbles from her lips without thinking as she rushes to placate the officer, “I just meant to say that I caught my boyfriend – _Ex_ -boyfriend – cheating on me, so I left angry, drove angry, and now here I am talking to a seriously attractive cop.” Clarke’s eyes went large again as she registered what she just said. Out loud. To said seriously attractive cop. Seriously attractive cop _who could arrest her_ if she wasn’t carful, and fixed this immediately. “I meant to say serious. You’re a serious cop. And yes, you are attractive, but I didn’t mean to say that part out loud, I swear. I didn’t mean to flirt with or harass you. Oh god why can’t I speak coherently around attractive people?” she mumbles the last part into her hands, as she rests her elbows on the steering wheel.  
  
Due to Clarke’s head face first in her palms, she didn’t see the amused expression and cocky smirk Officer Crew had upon hearing this unwilling and accidental confession. “That’s quite alright Ms. Griffin, at least your flirting was accidental. Most people – most guys, really – try flirting with me to get out of a speeding ticket. They seem to think that because I am a woman, using flattery and fluffed up words will help them get their way.”  
  
Clarke finally looked up again, curious, seeing the amused expression now on Officer Crew’s face. “Seriously? And they think that works? _Does_ that work? Should I have been laying on my charm this whole time to get out of a ticket and possible court appearance?”  
  
Officer Crew tilted her chin down, peering out from behind her glasses as she slowly shook her head back and forth. “No, they are all sadly mistaken to consider my gender a weakness that they can exploit. Not to mention, most are most definitely _not_ my type.” Clarke nodded once, a satisfied smile on her face that she was right about this woman, and that she had taken the right route in not trying to get out of her ticket, and also more than slightly curious about what or who her type was. “You are however, wrong on two points.” Clarke now looked confused more than anything.  
  
“What points…?”  
  
“One, I am not an ‘Attractive _Cop_ ’. I am an ‘Attractive _Trooper_ ’.” Officer Crew smirked as Ms. Griffins face cleared briefly before turning red, but if it was at self-admitted attractiveness, or from calling her a cop instead of Trooper, Crew wasn’t sure.  
  
“And what’s the other point, _Trooper_ Crew?” Clarke mumbled from where she was pointedly staring at the ground. Officer Crew let her smile expand some more, seeing how visibly awkward this woman was. She was actually really adorable like this, this blonde woman with eyes like sapphire and a pink tint to her cheeks. She waited until Ms. Griffin looked back up, at least fractionally.  
  
“The second point, Ms. Griffin, is that I don’t really think you ever turned your charm off,” Trooper Crew smirked more as Ms. Griffin looked up fully in surprise, mouth slightly open, before snapping it shut. “After all, some people like the awkward flustered types,” finished Trooper Crew, as she lifted her aviators onto her head and winked at the blonde, who was now seeming to be going into shock. “I’ll be right back with these,” she said as she waved the license and registration at Clarke before she turned and went back to her waiting Trooper vehicle, smug smile still on her face.  
  
Clarke watched the Trooper swagger back to her vehicle, not completely sure what just happened. Had that attractive Trooper just flirted back? Clarke was usually really good at knowing when someone was interested in her. But in this situation, getting pulled over after catching her boyfriend cheating, she was clearly not on her game. It also didn’t help that Trooper Crew had an uncanny ability to make a trooper uniform look good. Really, who looks good in all tan and khaki? No one Clarke has ever seen. Until now.  
  
She focused on not staring at the Troopers retreating figure, and instead decided to blame Finn for this mess. She absently wondered if she could somehow make Finn pay the upcoming ticket. Most likely not, but it was fun to think about and worked to divert her attention long enough that Trooper Crew returned unnoticed.  
  
She rapped on the top of Clarkes car, making Clarke jump, eyes wide and startled again. “Jumpy today, aren’t we, Ms. Griffin? You wouldn’t be hiding something I should know about, are you?”  
  
Clarke looked at the Trooper who was making her so jumpy, and decided it was not fair that she could pull off intimidating and sexy at the same time. Not to mention that she had left her aviators in her vehicle, and her eyes were a steel grey that seemed to look right through Clarke. She decided to talk without a filter again.  
  
Propping her elbow on the open window frame, she leaned her head in her hand and looked up through her lashes, tilting her head slightly to the side. “Just trying to figure you out, office-” Clarke caught herself and paused briefly at the slight smirk spreading on Crew’s face, “-Trooper. Trooper Crew.” _Well. That settles it. I officially am off my game today._ Clarke shook her head slightly and decided to change the subject, shifting back to lean into her seat again. “And I was also picturing Finn’s face when I make him pay for my speeding ticket. Improbable, of course, but still fun to think about.”  
  
“And is Finn the cheating ex?”  
  
Clarke beamed, “You know, if you weren’t already a Trooper, I would say you’d make a great detective.”  
  
“Mockery isn’t the product of a strong mind, Ms. Griffin.”  
  
“No- I wasn’t – that’s not” Clarke gave up trying to explain and returned her head to her hands on the wheel for a second, then turned to look back at the Trooper. “Look, I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean that to sound- ” she finally noticed the amused grin and lax form of stance as she looked at Clarke. “Oh my god, are you teasing me? That’s just. That’s just rude.” Clarke could not believe her day. Was this actually happening?  
  
“Not at all, Ms. Griffin, I had no intention of being rude. I just find it unbelievably adorable when you get flustered.”  
  
“So you said that just to get me flush-” She stopped as the rest of the sentence caught up to her brain. She just called her adorable. “Are you _flirting_ with me?” If Clarke didn’t know any better, she would have thought that her amused expression was a permanent feature on Trooper Crews face, except she remembers the stoic expression when she first walked up to the car.  
  
“What do you think, Ms. Griffin?”  
  
“I think you need to stop calling me Ms. Griffin” Trooper Crews eyebrows shot up, “and start calling me Clarke instead.” Clarke congratulated herself on that recovery and not saying what she actually wanted to say, which was something along the lines of _‘I think you need to stop calling me Ms. Griffin because it’s doing unmentionable things to my body and I can’t focus when you say it like that’_.  
  
“If you say so.” Trooper Crew paused and tilted her head down a bit, “Clarke.”  
  
_Oh no, that’s worse. How does she make my name sound so good? She must be doing that on purpose. No going back now._ “I do say so. So tell me, Trooper Crew, does this mean that you found it in the goodness of your heart to not give me the speeding ticket we both know I deserve?” Clarke scanned Crew’s hand hanging by her hip, it was empty but she couldn’t see the one on top of her car. She put on her best puppy dog eyes and clasped her hands in front of her in supplication, fluttering her lashes at the Trooper. “Would it help if I said I was real sorry?”  
  
Trooper Crew smiled and even gave a small chuckle at Clarkes performance, before shaking her head slowly. “Sorry, Clarke,” _yes, it was definitely a bad idea to let her use my first name_ , “but I wouldn’t be worth the title of ‘Trooper’ if I let someone going almost _30 miles per hour over the speed limit_ get off with no repercussions.”  
  
Clarke dropped her hands with a sigh, “Yea I figured as much. But I guess I can’t really complain about competent law enforcement,” she said with a small smile, “especially when they look so good in their uniform.”  
  
“You already know you’re getting a ticket, there’s no use flirting with me anymore you know.”  
  
“I am shocked, Trooper Crew! To think I would only flirt with you to get out of a ticket. _After_ it was established it wouldn’t work.” Clarke shakes her head in mock surprise.  
  
“No, I said it didn’t work for men. I said nothing about it not working for you, or women in general.”  
  
Clarke raised her eyebrows, her heart beating a bit faster. Oh. _Oh_. “Well I clearly didn’t think of that, and my charm has clearly not worked, so I guess you should just give me my ticket so we can both be on our marry ways. You to catch some more law breakers, and me to – well. Do _something_ very important, I’m sure.”  
  
Trooper Crew gave a slight smile at that, and handed her her paperwork back, along with a yellow ticket. “I am sorry for this thought.”  
  
“You’re sorry for doing your job?” Clarke smirks, drawing out a matching grin from the Trooper.  
  
“No, I’m not sorry for doing my job, which seems to have the added perks of getting to pull over beautiful blondes. What I’m sorry for, is making your already crappy day worse.”  
  
Clarke grimaced at the ticket, _shit did she mess up,_ but waved away the comment nevertheless. “Don’t worry about it. Believe it or not, this has been the highlight of my evening. Ticket and all.”  
  
Trooper Crew gave her own grimace at that, _that bad huh?_ “Still, I’d like to make it up to you. How about I take you to dinner one evening, and we can call it square?” She seemed to have shocked Clarke into silence once again. “Listen, you don’t have to answer me now, I realize this is really bad timing with your ex and all, but here, take my card and call me if you ever decide I’m worth your time,” Trooper Crew said as she held out her card for Clarke to take.  
  
Clarke chuckled weakly as she took the card, “so I shouldn’t just call 911?”  
  
Trooper Crew gave a slight smile, but in a serious tone said, “The emergency hotline is not a joke or for personal use, Clarke.” She looked up into Crews eyes as she pointed, “that card, however, IS for personal use. Please, feel free to use it.” She turned and started to walk away before stopping again, “Oh, and Clarke?”  
  
“Yes Trooper Crew?” Clarke said, as she stuck her head out of the window to maintain eye contact.  
  
“Try and keep it at the speed limit, shall we?” Clarke blushed as Crew smirked, “Have a good evening, Clarke. May we meet again.”  
  
“Of course,” Clarke said to the retreating figure, glancing down at the card in her hand, “Trooper Alexandria Crew.” She stayed parked in her car for ten minutes after the Trooper had left, staring at her card. “May we meet again.”


	2. Courthouse Appearances and Chance Encounters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke pays her dues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, comments and criticism appreciated!

It was a week later that Clarke got the letter in the mail telling her where and when to pay her speeding ticket. Technically, she could pay in any town courthouse; all she had to do was take in the paperwork, give it to the official behind the glass, and pay the fine. But she had a moral obligation to pay back the Town of Heda, as that is where she was speeding – or so she told herself. If there was a chance of seeing the attractive Trooper Crew again, it barely crossed her mind, and was definitely not the driving factor in getting Clarke to drive three towns over to pay the $120 speeding ticket. The money really wasn’t a problem for Clarke, being (recently) single and having no children, plus a nice secure bank account thanks to her dads life insurance, and the job her mom set her up with at the hospital. There were some perks to your mom being head surgeon in the city hospital. 

No, paying off the ticket was just annoying because of the extra hassle of taking the time off from work, driving three towns over (because she was _obligated_ , damn it), finding the courthouse and then going through the paperwork required. Of course, Clarke could have made it easier on herself, by just paying it off during her lunch break at the courthouse much closer to the hospital, as Raven, her best friend and resident genius, pointed out. But that would be ridiculous, Clarke had explained, disregarding Ravens skepticism. 

She could use the day off anyway, she reasoned. The past week had been busy, and as she was studiously ignoring Finn, they hadn’t had the time to talk about what happened. She really didn’t feel the need to talk to him anyway. She understood what happened well enough; she didn’t need explanations to go with it. She also didn’t see it to be necessary to let him try assuaging his own guilt over what happened. Clarke was pretty good at cutting people out when they’ve betrayed her, and Finn was currently at the top of her ‘No talk’ list.

And that was how Clarke found herself on a Thursday afternoon in Heda’s Town Courthouse waiting to pay off her ticket. Seriously, how busy can one town be? Clarke had clearly miscalculated when she had thought the travel time would be the biggest chunk out of her day (She really should have known better. It was government run, after all). She sighed as she leaned back into the hard blue plastic chair, which she was pretty sure was the same model they used for public schools. Didn’t the government have more than one chair mold? Taking her glare from the suspicious blue chair, she looked around the room again. There were only like three other people left waiting, but she had already been sitting here for an hour. Ok, 45 minutes, but it sure felt like an hour, plus she was pretty sure that the clock on the wall actually went the wrong way a few minutes when it hit twelve. And, to make matters worse, not once had she gotten a glimpse of a certain wavy haired brunette that looks good in khaki… not that she was looking, per se, and she would never admit she was disappointed, but she was kind of disappointed. ‘I drove out here for nothing’ was her internal mantra while waiting. 

Lucky, she was diverted from her moping when her phone started ringing and she saw ‘This is So Raven (so pick up the damn phone!)’ flash on her screen. She smiled as she answered, “Hey Rave, what’s up?”

_“Hey Clarky, Just got on my lunch break from the shop, thought of you sweltering in a courthouse three towns away, had a laugh, and decided to call so I could laugh again.” ___She chuckles, _“So here I am. How’s it going by the way? Having fun yet?” ___

“Ha ha Raven, very funny.” Clarke was not amused mostly because she was sweltering, even in her jean shorts and plain tee she was wearing. Courthouses in May are not fun. “I’m glad my criminal behavior amuses you. And I’m so bored.” She sighed. “I’ve been sitting here for like an hour and nothings even happened yet. I didn’t even bring my sketch pad.”

_“Well that was your own fault, you should have thought ahead and brought something to occupy your time with.”_

“Yes, thanks Raven, you’re being supper helpful right now.”

_“It’s what I’m here for, babe. And just to be clear, it’s not your criminal behavior that amuses me, it’s your dumb ass getting caught that I find hilarious. I swear I taught you better than that.”_

"Yea, well I was a little too distracted to employ your ‘How to Evade the Law, 101’ handout, Raven.” The handout was an actual thing Raven had made Clarke for her 22 birthday. 

Clarke could hear Raven sigh over the phone, before she continued, more somber. _“Yea Clarke, I know. But!”_ She continued more cheerily, _“Finn is a dick. I mean really, who flirts with me the morning after having sex with you? I mean obviously I’m great and who wouldn’t flirt with me,”_ Clarke could hear the smirk, _“but if you think you can sleep with MY best friend, and then flirt with ME as if I didn’t know all the nasty things you did the night before – ”_

“Hey! I resent that!”

_“ – you are sadly mistaken and I will slap a ho.”_

“Wow Raven, don’t be afraid to let your true feelings out.”

_“Oh Clarky, don’t be offended. I would never slap you, babe. I was taking about Finn.”_

“Raven, we both know he was just playing around – ”

Raven snorts, _“You got that right.”_

“ – and having some innocent fun.”

_“Was he Clarke? Because I’m not so sure, especially after recent events.”_

“Ugh, I can’t be questioning the whole of our relationship now, Raven. It’s over, and I’m not going to second guess myself after the fact. I’m moving on.”

_“Hear hear to that! I say we move right on down to the pub tonight. What do you say, Clarky? Up for a girl’s night out? We haven’t had a chance to yet, since SOMEONE,”_ Clarke could almost feel the glare through the phone, _“Decided to work all last weekend.”_

It was at that moment that Clarke thought she saw a flash of tan in her peripherals. “Uh, I don’t know Raven, we’ll talk about it later. I think the line is moving, I got to go now.”

_“Whoa whoa whao! I know that tone, missy! Did you just see someone attractive?”_

“I said we’ll talk about it later,” Clarke said, as her eyes drifted over to the door she saw the figure disappear behind. 

Raven just chuckled, _“Right Clarke, go get your flirt on then, rebound for us all! Bye, babe.”_

“Yea, see ya Raven,” Clarke mumbled, no longer paying attention to her phone as she hung up, instead focused on the door, waiting for the missing Trooper to reappear.

She leaned forward as the door opened again, only to slump back with a huff of air as a male trooper walked out. He was definitely not the trooper she was looking for, even if he did have a certain handsomeness to him. Maybe Clarke was just developing a thing for uniforms now. 

“Looking for someone?” 

Clarke jumped in her seat, whipping around to find the source of the voice reclining in a seat behind her. “Not anymore,” Clarke said, as her eyes took in Trooper Crew once again, this time out of her uniform. Though she wasn’t complaining, black leather jackets looked good on anyone. “No uniform today, Trooper?” She surveyed the rest of her outfit, which consisted of dark jeans, boots, and a pale green shirt (which made her eyes seem more green today) before glaring suspiciously. “How long have you been sitting there?”

____“It’s my paperwork day, hence the Courthouse. No patrols for me, which means no uniform necessary. And long enough.” Trooper Crew smirked, and Clarke wondered how much of her conversation she may have heard between her and Raven._ _ _ _

____“Sounds like fun,” Clarke said, deciding to overlook the ‘long enough’ comment, and making a face indicating paperwork did not sound like fun. “But how can you sit there in a jacket? It’s hotter than me in here.”_ _ _ _

____Crew laughed. “And that is indeed saying something, Ms. Griffin. But, as a Trooper, we have to be cool and collected in all situations, including warm weather. And I also just look really good in a leather jacket.”_ _ _ _

____“Well, you’re not wrong there,” Clarke replied, raking her eyes over the Trooper salaciously, “You do look good in a leather jacket. However,” She continued, bringing her eyes back up to the smirking face, “I thought I told you to call me Clarke?”_ _ _ _

____“Right, that one’s on me then, Clarke. Won’t happen again.” She looked Clarke over, before saying, “Unless you want me to.” The wink she sent Clarke nearly had her falling out of her chair. She blamed it on the heat. In the room. Not between them. Oh no, that would be absurd. She decided to ignore the second part altogether._ _ _ _

____“Mmhumm, and speaking of names, what should I call you? Alexandria, Ms. Crew, Trooper Crew, Ms. Trooper, Officer. Commander Hot-pants, perhaps?”_ _ _ _

____She chuckled again, “Commander Hot-pants, really?” She shook her head. “Lexa’s fine, for when I’m off duty that is.” See sent another wink, which Clarke damned mentally._ _ _ _

____Clarke shrugged, “I call them like I see them, Commander Hot-pants.” She smiled, “But I do like Lexa. Short and sweet, not too many syllables.”_ _ _ _

____“And that matters because…?”_ _ _ _

____Clarke blushed and ducked her head, not wanting to admit that she finds shorter names hot because they are easier to yell out during sex. “Uh, no particular reason.”_ _ _ _

____Lexa saw Clarke’s embarrassment, and while she was sure she could ride this out and enjoy a flustered Clarke yet again, she decided to take pity on her and changed the subject._ _ _ _

____“So the Ex didn’t pay, huh?”_ _ _ _

____“Hum?” Clarke looked back up, dragging her mind kicking and screaming from the gutter. “Oh, Finn? Yea no, I haven’t even talked to him since that night, much less tried to get him to pay for the speeding ticket.” She snorted, “He would probably try using that as a guilt trip to get us to stay together anyway. Wouldn’t work, but he’d try.”_ _ _ _

____“Humm, sounds like an unsavory character.”_ _ _ _

____“Well, he wasn’t always like this. Or so I keep telling myself, but really, maybe he was. Hard to really get to know someone in just two months, I guess. He could have been putting up a charade the whole time and this is his real self, for all I know.” Lexa nodded sagely, as if she understood the frailty of the human connection and trying to really know someone. “But he kept calling, so I had to block his number. You would think he would get the point, but nope! He’s nothing if not a persistent bastard.”_ _ _ _

____“Well what can I say? Men are stupid. That’s why I stay clear of them all together when it comes to my romantic interests,” Lexa said, as she leaned forward towards Clarke, placing her elbows on her knees as she clasping her hands._ _ _ _

____Clarke sighed wishfully, looking off at the blank wall, “would that I could. But people are just so damn attractive, ya know?” She said, looking back at Lexa once again. “It must be the artist in me, and my bohemian nature that makes me really appreciate all bodies, regardless of gender. Well,” She said, looking Lexa up and down again before giving her a wink of her own, “the ones I find attractive I have a more than artistic interest in, anyway.”_ _ _ _

____Lexa widened her eyes a bit, and cleared her throat, the only indication that Clarke had implied anything sexual. Clarke decided that she would figure out what it took to see the stoic Trooper loose her cool and blush. “You don’t seem very bohemian to me, Clarke”_ _ _ _

____“That’s because I’m currently part of civilized society. Give me a weekend and a paint brush or some charcoal, and you’d see a whole other side of one Clarke Griffin.”_ _ _ _

____“I think I’d like to see that Clarke very much,” Lexa says in a low whisper._ _ _ _

____Clarke mimics her tone, and replies, “Play your cards right and you just might get that privilege.”_ _ _ _

____“Are you flirting with a Trooper, again, Clarke?” Lexa asks, amused._ _ _ _

“Hey, I don’t see any rules against it. Besides,” Clarke leaned forward and lowered her voice, “You started it. And you’re out of uniform.” She tilted her head appraisingly, “Which, granted, this is not exactly how I _imagined_ seeing you out of uniform for the first time would be, but hey, it’s a start.” 

____Clarke may have been imagining it because she wanted to hear it, but she thought she detected a bit of strain in her voice as Lexa replied. “And how had you imagined it, Clarke?” Her voice was dangerously soft and her eyes were getting darker._ _ _ _

____Clarke leaned back, waving her hand airily about at the room around them, “Oh, you know.” She said innocently, “Hotter.”_ _ _ _

____Clarke, if she wasn’t paying such close attention to see Lexa’s reaction, might have missed her jaw drop a fraction of an inch, might have missed the slightly harsh intake of breath. But she was paying attention, and she didn’t miss it._ _ _ _

____A coy smile played on Clarkes lips as innocently asked, “Something wrong, Officer?”_ _ _ _

____Two can play at that game, Lexa thinks, but before she has a chance to respond, “Clarke Griffin” is announced from the front, causing Clarke to jump up with a cheery “That’s me!” before bouncing off to pay her fine._ _ _ _

____~_ _ _ _

____Lexa waited nearly another half hour for Clarke to be done before approaching her again. Clarke look a bit surprised, as well as pleased, to see Lexa come towards her as she made her way to the doors._ _ _ _

____“Why Officer, I do believe this is more than mere coincidence. You wouldn’t happen to be following me, would you?”_ _ _ _

____“Says the girl who drives three towns over to pay a speeding ticket,” Lexa shoots back. “Besides, we didn’t get to finish our conversation.”_ _ _ _

____Clarke’s face turned lightly pink at being caught, but she nonetheless raised her chin defiantly and lowered her eyelids, before saying “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I came to pay my dues to the town. And as for the conversation…” She looked at Lexa fully now, who was amused at Clarkes act of denial, “Why don’t we continue it over dinner, Saturday night? You pay. After all, you owe me still.” Clarke sent her another wink._ _ _ _

____“Oh, I’d love to Clarke. But how am I supposed to contact you with the details if I don’t have your number?” Lexa asked rather innocently, which Clarke had to give her credit for. She did have game. Clarke smirked as she pulled out her phone, before shooting off a text to Lexa’s cell._ _ _ _

____“There, now you have it. Call me.” She turned to walk away to her car, but Lexa stopped her._ _ _ _

____“My number is already programed in your phone, Clarke?” She was wearing an amused expression again, a mix between cocky and pleased._ _ _ _

____Clarke toss her words over her shoulder as she walked away chucking, “Oh, absolutely. Commander Hot-pants.”_ _ _ _

____Lexa shook her head as a smile tugged on her lips, pulling her phone out of her back pocket to see a new text from an unknown number flashing. She opened it up, reading ‘From Ms. Griffin, to Commander Hot-pants. Now you have my number.’ She smiled as she put in Clarkes contact as ‘Ms. Grif-fine’, before heading off down the street to her own car. Today wasn’t so bad, even with the flood of paperwork she knew she had waiting at her office. She hummed happily as she tapped her leg, subconsciously hitting her phone to the beat of her internal music._ _ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm already working on the next chapter, I think you all will enjoy it. Finn makes an appearance. He's kinda a fuckboy, but it's entertaining, I think.  
> Thanks for ready! I hope you enjoyed this piece too! :)


	3. Go Away, Finn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke is anxious for her date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so this is more Clarke and Raven, but the next chapter is definitely more Clarke and Lexa. I had originally planned on posting just one large chapter, but decided on breaking it up. So the dinner is next guys!

Saturday came quicker than Clarke expected, but Saturday _night_ was both taking forever and happening too fast. Clarke paced, wondering if she was indeed ready for this. 

“Would you quit pacing? You’re making me nervous and I’m not even going on the damn date!” Raven said from her place, lounging on the couch. Clarke noticed her hands fiddling with her knee brace over her jeans, which was indeed one of Ravens nervous habits. 

“I’m sorry Rae, I just don’t know if I’m actually ready for this yet,” Clarke said as she continued pacing. 

“Clarke, it’s just the first date jitters, you’ve been excited for this ever since you called me back on Thursday and told me all about how hot the Trooper was that pulled you over and how you somehow scored a date from all that. Besides,” Raven looked Clarke up and down, in her classic black dress and strapped heels, and smirked, “You look hot. No need to worry about what your date will think; the drool will be evident.” 

Clarke rolled her eyes, “Yea, thanks Rae, I know I look good. That’s a given,” She said with mock superiority, “But I just don’t know if I’m actually over Finn or if I just _want_ to be over Finn.” 

Raven smirked again as she sat up to face Clarke better, “Well, you know what they say, ‘the best way to get over someone, is to get on top of someone else’.”

“Who says that? Who is the mysterious ‘they’ you always quote? Not to mention I’m pretty sure the quote is ‘to get under someone else’.”

“Well, I say it Clarke, and really, isn’t that enough? When your best friend gives you advice, you’re just supposed to take it, no questions asked.” She smirked, “Besides, I’m pretty sure you’re a top.” 

Clarke just rolled her eyes, “Mmhum, right Raven, sure. But that’s exactly what I shouldn’t do. I actually like Lexa, and I don’t want to mess that up by sleeping with her too soon and fucking it up because I’m still hung up over Finn.” 

“Don’t worry, babe, it’ll be fine, you’ll be fine,” Raven stood up and placed her hands on Clarkes shoulders, effectively stopping her pacing for a moment, “Look at me. Do you see my face? Do you see how great I am?” 

Clarke looked confused, “Raven, I don’t see where this is going – ”

“Just answer the question.”

“Yes Raven, you’re great. The best of the best in all you do. If we were kids on the playground, I’d pick you first. Happy? Enough of an ego boost for you?”

Raven looked pleased, “Exactly. I’m great. And do you really think someone as great as me would have sub-par friends? Much less a sub-par best friend? The answer is no, Clarke. Greatness seeks greatness, and that’s how I found you. So when I say don’t worry about tonight, I mean it. What will happen, will happen, so just be you. Kay babe? And if this Trooper doesn’t see how great you are, and that you’re worth being patience for, then that is her loss. Got it?”

“Wow, Rave, that was actually very sweet. Thank you.”

“That’s what I’m here for. So. You good now? Calmed down?”

“Yea I think so. I can wait the next half hour without pacing, alright?” And that was when the doorbell rang. “Shit shit shit, I’m not ready I’m not ready.”

“Clarke! Pull yourself together woman! I thought you were going to meet her and car pool anyway?”

Clarke took a deep breath, “You’re right, you’re right.” She turned and started towards the door, “I have no idea who it could be then, ringing at 6.30 on a Saturday night.” 

Raven shrugged and went back towards the couch, only to turn back around when she heard the door open and Clarke pull in a sharp breath, before trying to slam the door again. Raven saw a hand and foot reach out and stop the door, and was next to Clarke in a second, understanding dawning as she saw Finn on the other side. 

“What the fuck are you doing here, Finn? Haven’t you gotten the hint that Clarke doesn’t want to see you?” 

Finn flicked his eyes over to Raven, before ignoring her and talking to Clarke, whose knuckles had turned white where she clutched the door. “Clarke, can we talk? Please?” His eyes flicked to Raven briefly, “Alone?” 

“No.”

“Ok, fine, I’ll just say what I came to say in front of Raven too – ”

“No.” Finn looked taken aback at Clarke, “No, Finn. I don’t want to hear you speak. Not alone, not in front of Raven, not ever again.” 

“But, did you get my texts, my calls –”

“I saw them.”

“Clarke could you let me explain – ”

“No. And if you ever loved me like you claim you do still, you’ll remove your limbs from my doorway and leave me be,” he looked reluctant but he removed his hand and foot, “Good. Now Goodbye, Finn.” 

Raven whistled as Clarke closed the door, “The nerve of some people. Want me to go punch him in the face? Or hit him with my cane?” 

Clarke chuckled, “No, Rae, I would want the satisfaction of punching him myself, and you need your cane.”

“Eh, not really, I just carry it around for effect. It also makes people underestimate me, which can be their own undoing.” Raven said with a shrug, “Besides, I need something on hand to beat away all my admirer’s, and apparently the errant ex.” 

“Right Rae, all practical reasons, but not the practical use the actual cane is for, which is walking.” Clarke sighed and looked at her clock, before checking the peep hole (which she should have done before she opened the door) and making sure Finn had indeed gone. “Well I guess one good thing about Finn showing up is that I have no more time to worry and pace. Now I have to worry and drive, else I’ll be late.”

“Ok Clarky,” Raven said as she gave her friend a tight hug, “Have fun. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. Which means you should totally sleep with her, Clarke.”

Clarke just rolled her eyes, and grabbed her purse, “Yea yea, I’ll talk to you later. Bye Rae.”

“Bye Clarkey. Oh, and Clarke?” Clarke looked behind her before she closed her door, to see Raven smirking, “Don’t speed.”

Clarke just sighed and said, “You better not still be here when I get back. And lock up when you leave.”

Clarke vaguely heard “You better not be planning on coming back tonight!” Through the door as she made her way to her car outside. 

~

Clarke pulled into the Library they had decided to meet at 5 minutes ahead of schedule. It was in the town located between Heda and Skytown, called Mountain Valley. Personally, Clarke found the name for a town not situated near any Mountains dumb, but whatever, she wouldn’t be staying there long. Just long enough to meet Lexa, so she could drive them to the next location, the restaurant. Lexa wanted it to be a surprise, and so Clarke had no idea where they were going. Speaking of Lexa… Clarke looked at her watch and then around the deserted parking lot. She hoped she was in the right place. And that she wasn’t getting stood up. 

Her mind drifted as her thoughts turned back to Finn. She hadn’t had much time to think about it in her rush to meet Lexa, but now she had down time and he came crawling through her mind like a cockroach. Or a slug. Spider? Leech? Before Clarke could land on an accurate type of small creature Finn was (she was leaning heavily towards leech), a knock on her window had her jumping and clutching her chest, as she turned wide eyed to the window. It was Lexa. 

She rolled down her window as she shook her head, “Are you trying to kill me? That’s like” Clarke quickly counted, “the fourth time you’ve nearly given me a heart attack!” 

Lexa looked surprised, “Four? I only count two, one for each of the times I knocked on your car.”

“That’s because the other ones were from you looking so good.” Clarke stops and looks at Lexa under the lamp post. She was wearing a light button up (white? Off-white? Hard to tell in the dim light) rolled to the elbows and the top few buttons undone, with dark grey (form fitting) pants, and, _oh my god_ black suspenders. With her leather jacket thrown over her shoulder, she basically had Clarke drooling on the spot. “Make that five times, Lexa.”

Lexa smirked at this admission, and leaned towards the car, letting her eyes take in Clarke, who was sitting expectantly. “Ms. Griffin,” Lexa began when she made it back to Clarke’s eyes, “am I going to have to give you another ticket?”

Clarke looked around, confused, “I’m not parked in a handicap zone am I – ”

“Because you have _fine_ written all over you.” 

Clarke snapped her mouth shut and looked at Lexa incredulously. “You didn’t.”

Lexa smiled, full and bright, causing Clarke to reevaluate the sun as the main source of light. “Oh, I did. It’s basically mandatory that law enforcement use some variation of that pickup line, at least once.”

Clarke just stared at Lexa, expression unchanging as she rolled up her window. Slowly. Giving Lexa plenty of time to regret that line. Although from the look on her face, she was far too pleased with herself to regret anything at the moment, especially cheesy over-used pickup lines. 

Clarke opened up the door, “Alright, let’s go, Commander Hot-pants.” She looked at Lexa again as she locked her car, “I can sure call ‘em, can’t I?” 

Lexa bowed a bit mockingly, as she brought her eyes down to the level Clarke was staring. Yes, it was at her pants. But only because they looked like a good material and Clarke wanted to touch them… to feel what kind of material they were. Absolutely no other reason. “Well your chariot awaits,” She gestured to her car, a yellow Mustang, before continuing, “Ms. Grif- _fine_.”

Clarke stopped in her tracks as she made her way over to the car. Without turning she said, “Oh no. Oh god no. Lexa no.”

“Oh, Lexa _yes_. You’re not the only one who gets to have fun with names, you know.” 

Clarke could hear the smirk, so she just shook her head and climbed into the passenger seat, mumbling something about ‘going on a date with a complete and utter dork’. Still, Lexa was pleased to notice that Clarke was wearing a silly grin on her face the whole way to the restaurant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, this wasn't what I had originally planned for Finn. He just kind of popped up again.


	4. Stalking, it's an Art

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dinner finally happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, as always! =)

They arrived at the restaurant, a place called _Grounders_ , just in time for their reservation and were seated directly. Clarke looked around, noticing the snug little corner of the street the building was situated in, and all the little twinkle lights that decorated the wooden archways and leafy terraces. It had the feel of being earthy and intimate, while also giving off the appearance of being under the open sky. Clarke nodded in approval, looking at Lexa as they were lead to their booth by one of the bay windows. 

“I like this place. Never heard of it, and I’m still not exactly sure where we are, but if the food is as good as the decorations here, I think all will be wonderful,” Clarke said with a smile.

Lexa smiled back as she slid into her side of the booth across from Clarke, tossing her jacket over the back. “Oh, the food is wonderful, and they have a surprising variety.” She looked amused as she continued talking, “but you really don’t know where we are?”

“Nope. I wasn’t even paying attention to how we got here, so I couldn’t even tell you how to get back to my car. Which means,” Clarke said, leaning across the table, “that I’m kind of at your mercy. So don’t kill me.” 

“Wow, Clarke, that’s a lot of trust for someone you basically just met.”

“Well maybe I have faith in my law enforcement. But you’re not planning on killing me, are you? ‘Cause if you are, at least wait till after we eat. It’s the only polite thing to do, really.” 

Lexa just shrugged, giving an ‘eh’ expression. “Maybe I’m a Trooper by day and serial killer by night, and this dinner is really a secret interview to see if you’re a worthy victim or not. You can never be sure, these days.”

Clarke pondered that for a moment. “Well, first off, I’m not sure if I would be more insulted to be found as a ‘worthy’ victim, or not,” Lexa snorted at that, “and secondly, I’ll just have to order something very specific to this restaurant, so when they find my body the food in my stomach will point to this place, and you by association.”

Lexa nodded, “Smart Clarke, but who’s to say they’d even remember what I looked like? I could have used a fake name for the reservation.”

It was Clarkes turn to snort. “Please. Have you seen you? No way that hostess would forget you. In fact I’m pretty sure I caught her checking you out.” 

Lexa just shrugged again, “It happens. I can’t turn the charm and looks off, Clarke, I’ve tried.”

Clarke chuckled, “Don’t bother, it’s working for you. Besides, us together? We’re not even a couple yet and we’re basically a power couple. You’d definitely be placed here with me.”

Before Lexa could respond a waitress came over, “Hi my name is Tessa and I’ll be your server this evening. Can I get you anything to drink?” She said with a winning smile. 

Lexa looked at Clarke, “Would you like some wine? They have a great red here, house brand.”

“House brand?” Clarke cocked an eyebrow, “As in unique to this specific restaurant? Count me in.” 

Lexa chuckled as she looked back to their waitress, “If you could bring out the glasses with the food that would be great. But I think water will do for now,” She looked to Clarke for confirmation, who nodded, “Yes, just water for now, thank you.” Lexa finished with a smile. 

Tessa smiled back, “Will do,” She said as she scribbled on her notepad she pulled from her dark apron. “Does that mean y’all are ready to order?” 

Clarke glanced down at her unopened menu before leaning her elbows on the table and propping her head in her hands, “Well that depends. Do you have any house specials tonight?”

Lexa laughed quietly as Clarke kept her attention focused on the waitress, who smiled and replied, “Of course. Tonight’s special is a choice of pasta, Linguini, Penne, or Bowtie, in a homemade red sauce with Italian sausage, and mushrooms grilled in butter and garlic over top. Bread is served to the table.” 

Clarke smiled, “Sounds delicious.” She looked at Lexa, “And did you hear that? _Homemade_ red sauce.” 

Lexa looked amused as she nodded, “Yes Clarke, I heard. And I can tell you, it’s quite good.”

“Well perfect!” Clarke looked to Tessa, “I’ll have the special please, with the Penne.” She turned back to Lexa, “Unless you need more time?”

Lexa shook her head, “No, the house special sounds fantastic. I’ll have one as well,” She said, handing back the menus. “But with the Bowtie pasta, thank you.”

Tessa smiled, “Of course, it’ll be coming right up. I’ll be right back with your waters.”

After the waitress had gone, Lexa looked at Clarke, amused, “Really? If they weren’t going to remember us before, I’m sure your odd behavior has helped change that.”

“Well good.” Clarke shrugged, “Guess you’ll have to take me on a second date if you want to kill me afterwards.”

Lexa held her face as straight as possible as she regarded Clarke. It lasted all of five seconds before she broke into a grin, “Well aren’t you full of yourself. We aren’t even through the first one and you seem confident you’ll get a second.”

“But of course. I’m part seer, you know. I can see the future.”

“Oh? And what does the future say for you and me?”

Clarke smirked. “Now that would be telling. Where’s the fun in that? Besides,” She said in a high sing-song voice, “the future’s susceptible to change.” 

Lexa nodded sagely. “I see. Very wise, oh great and mystical Seer.”

Clarke leveled a look at Lexa, “Mockery isn’t the product of a strong mind, Lexa. Or so I’ve recently been told.” 

“Oh indeed it’s not¸” Lexa stared back at Clarke, “but I never said I wasn’t weak.” 

It was in that moment that Tessa came back with their waters, telling them their food and wine would be along momentarily, breaking the intense stare that Clarke and Lexa had been sharing. 

_Oh well_ , Lexa thought, _moments gone_. “So Clarke, what do you do? Besides speed when you’re angry.” She asked before taking a sip of water.

“Ha ha ha, you’re going to hold that over my head, aren’t you?”

“Oh absolutely.”

Clarke stuck her tongue out at Lexa, which was so unexpected she might have laughed had it not pulled her attention to Clarke’s mouth, and effectively distracted her. Luckily she realized Clarke had continued talking and was able to pick up the conversation thread.

“ – in the same Hospital as my mom, which can be nice, but I’m only a nurse, where she’s the head surgeon. I may go back to school to become a surgeon if I become unhappy with my job, but I just don’t really see that happening any time soon. Besides, I’ve seen how my mom works, and while nursing has its own stressors, I’m not sure I could handle holding someone else’s life in my hands on an operation table.”

Lexa nodded like she understood, so Clarke changed the subject, “But what about you, why be a Trooper?”

“Well I have a whole family in law enforcement, so you could say I’ve been groomed for it my whole life. But honestly, I may have ended up here without my family being who they are. I enjoy it, and I think I may have been in a similar position in a past life; it just feels right.”

“In a past life? You mean like reincarnation?”

“Of course. You don’t believe in reincarnation, Clarke?”

She just shrugged, “Never really thought about it I guess. But it is an interesting concept. I can see the appeal; I mean if you completely fuck up in this life, you always have the next to make it better, right?”

Lexa smiled, “Not exactly. It works more like, if you do good things/are a good person in one life, in the next you’ll be born in an automatic higher status than your last life, and the opposite is true where if you’re a bad person you are reduced in the next life. Besides, what if THIS is the life that’s supposed to be making up for fuck-ups in the past?”

“Shit. I didn’t think about that.” 

In the midst of Clarke trying to figure out if she fucked up in a possible past life or not, the food arrived putting a brief stop to all thoughts and conversation, besides the occasional ‘mmhumm, this is good’ on Clarkes part and the ‘I told you so’ on Lexa’s. 

Towards the end of their meal, Clarke noticed Lexa staring over her shoulder with her head cocked. 

“What?” Clarke asked, drawing Lexa’s attention back to her. 

“There’s a man coming this way, and he seems pretty intent on you.” 

“What?” Clarke repeated, as she turned around. She immediately stiffened when she saw who it was. Finn was back. Again. 

Lexa, who noticed Clarke’s mood change, asked quietly, “Is everything alright? You seem a little tense.”

Clarke turned back, giving Lexa a thin smile. “Well I am, considering that is Finn. I had a run in with him earlier tonight. It just seems he won’t take a hint.”

Lexa’s eyebrows rose in surprise, as she eyed the dark haired man with a new interest. He was of medium height with floppy hair, dressed in dark cargo pants and a hoodie. She supposed he was attractive enough, but wondered what had captured Clarke’s attention in the first place. 

Lexa stared at Finn as he made his way over, whose own eyes were trained on Clarke. Clarke, upon realizing who was approaching the table, had turned around and focused on Lexa, deciding not to give Finn any more attention than necessary. Lexa would have found this situation laughable by the time Finn reached the table, had Clarke clearly not been so uncomfortable. Finn stood next to the booth for about thirty seconds without anyone acknowledging him, when he cleared his throat awkwardly and flicked a glance at Lexa, before returning his gaze to Clarke. 

“Hey, Clarke.” 

Lexa thought he was trying for casual, but by the way Clarkes hand tightened around her fork, she suspected it wasn’t working. She wondered idly if Clarke was going to stab Finn. Lexa should probably make sure Clarke didn’t while she was there; she would really hate to arrest Clarke on possible assault charges. 

“What do you want Finn. I’m kind of busy.” Her eyes never left Lexa’s face. Lexa had to give her props, she sure could ignore someone. 

His voice took on a pleading tone, “Yea, I know, but I need to talk to you.” 

“No, you _want_ to talk to me to make yourself feel better.” She finally looked at Finn. “How did you find me here anyway? Not for a second do I believe that this was a coincidence.”

He hesitated, but Clarke just regarded him with a look that screamed ‘don’t try feeding me your bullshit’, so he said, “Well I saw how you were dressed and figured, rightly, that you were going out. So I waited outside your apartment till you left and then followed you here. I wasn’t going to come inside but – ” 

Clarke closed her eyes and took a deep breath through her nose. “Fan-fucking-tastic, you stalked me. Wonderful.” She looked at Lexa, “Do you know where I could get some pepper spray? Seems I might need it.”

Lexa inclined her head towards Clarke, eyes never leaving Finn, “I could get you some.”

Finn, who looked a bit nervous under Lexa’s intense stare, looked at Clarke, “I really don’t think that’s necessary. I mean if you’d just talk to me I wouldn’t have to follow you.”

Clarke let out a humorless laugh, “You don’t _have_ to do anything. You didn’t _have_ to cheat on me. You didn’t _have_ to wear that ugly ass sweater, and you certainly didn’t _have_ to follow me around on my date.” 

Finn’s eyes flickered between Lexa and Clarke, “Date?”

Clarke rolled her eyes, “No, Finn, this is a completely _platonic_ romantic diner between two gal pals.” She paused, “I really should have let Raven hit you with her cane.”

“Oh. Well don’t you think you should have talked to me before coming on this,” His eyes flickered over Lexa, “date?”

Clarke ignored what he was saying, and instead said, “You know what Finn, I should thank you,” he looked confused as Clarke continued, “If I hadn’t caught you cheating on me, I wouldn’t have been caught speeding that night. If I hadn’t been caught speeding that night I wouldn’t be on my current _date_ ,” she gestured at Lexa sitting across from her, “a _date_ in which I was having more fun than I had in the entirety of our relationship. That is, until you decided to come in and ruin that as well.”

“And all we’ve done so far is talk,” Lexa cut in, winking at Finn as she took a sip of her wine, smirking. “Just wait till later, when the real fun begins” Lexa directed that at Clarke, with a raised eyebrow. 

Clarke wasn’t sure if she was serious, or just trying to get under Finn’s skin, but she played along and, raising an eyebrow in response, replied “Can’t wait,” in a low husk. A voice she knew Finn would recognize as her seduction voice, along with her seduction eyes – which people have said to get a nice smolder look to them, when she wanted them too, and oh, she wanted them to. And not just because Finn was still standing there watching the exchange. 

“Are you fucking serious, Clarke?” Finn finally lost his pleading tone, “We’ve not talked for nearly a week and a half, and you’re already out screwing the next thing on two legs!” 

Clarke whirled on him then, eyes glaring, torn between being aloof and letting her rage out. Rage won. “Excuse me? At least I waited till we were no longer together to have a date,” she said lowly, fury replacing the sex that had laced her voice a second before. “And I’m not ‘out screwing the next thing on two legs’. I have standards. Otherwise” she said, scorn lacing her voice, “I would have come back to _you_.” 

Lexa snorted her wine, trying not to laugh outright, causing Clarkes eyes to flicker briefly to the Trooper across from her, a corner of her lips tugging up briefly before her attention was drawn back to Finn as he started speaking, in a voice that was really beginning to grate on Clarkes nerves. 

“What do you mean we’re over? We haven’t even talked about it. We can work through all this,” he waves his hand to encompass the restaurant, and specifically Lexa, who was in front of him. “Babe, I love you. We can’t be done.” 

Lexa snorts again, not even trying to hide her amusement and condescending tone, “Oh boy, if you couldn’t tell,” she said, leaning forward towards Finn, “She’s done with _you_. You don’t get to continue a relationship she clearly doesn’t want.” 

Clarke reached forward and grabbed Lexa’s hand that was resting on the table between them, drawing Lexa’s attention back to the blonde in front of her. “I swear, he could shoot up a whole village of innocents and would think saying ‘I love you’ would fix it.” Clarke took her eyes from Lexa and turned them back to Finn, who was staring at their entwined hands with a look of disbelief, before his dark eyes found Clarke’s blue ones once again. “But it doesn’t. And it never will. Band-Aids don’t fix bullet holes, Finn. You should leave. Now. Before you make more of a scene than you already have.” Clarke looked back at Lexa, who once again had an amused smirk on her face, although Clarke wasn’t sure of the reason this time. 

“But Cla-” 

“Just don’t,” she directed at Finn, without taking her eyes off Lexa, who was full on grinning now. “I’m through with you. I’m done with all you’re selfish ways and all the games you play.” She flicked her free hand in his direction, before grabbing her wine and taking a sip. 

Lexa broke eye contact with Clarke and looked back at Finn. “I do believe you’ve been dismissed,” she drawled. “Now, I’m going to give you some friendly advice, which you don’t really deserve. I suggest you leave, nice and quiet like, before I’m forced to make you leave,” she said this all with a pleasant tone and expression, belying the threat behind her words, as she casually pulled her troopers badge from her pants pocket and placed it on the table in clear view. 

Finn looked between Lexa’s badge, her eyes, and Clarke, who was still only looking at Lexa, and actually quite enjoying the view. He did this a few times, with neither woman changing her expression, before he gave up, flinging his hands in the air. “Whatever. This is bullshit.” 

“Much like the duration of our relationship,” Clarke cut in, eyes still on Lexa, who was smirking again. 

Finn looked affronted, but didn’t say anything else as he turned to leave, only stopping briefly when Lexa called out to him again. “One last thing, Finn.” He looked over his shoulder, slightly curious at the over friendly tone she was using, which she promptly dropped taking on a much darker tone, as her face turned into an intimidating glare. “Don’t bother trying to contact Clarke again. Your advances are clearly unwelcome,” she glanced at Clarke when she squeezed her hand, “and if by chance she DOES want to get in touch with you, she will. But that is entirely up to her, not you.” She looked him up and down once, shaking her head, almost mournfully, before saying, “though if I were you, I would not be waiting on a phone call.”

And with that, Finn turned and stormed off, leaving the couple alone for good, mumbling softly under his breath about all the injustices in the world. All that was missing from his nice guy persona was a fedora. And Lexa said as much. 

“You know,” she turned back to Clarke, glancing down at their still entwined hands, not at all minding the contact, “I half expected him to have a fedora on. Or to pull one out of his pocket as he stormed dramatically off complaining about the ‘friend zone’.” 

Clarke looked shocked for a second, before bursting out with laughter, removing her hand from Lexa’s to clutch at her stomach as she tried gasping for air. Lexa, to say the least, was very pleased with herself, more so when Clarke explained, after getting her breath back. 

“Oh my god, you have no idea how fitting that is!” She struggled to gain her breath back as she continued, “I saw a picture once, when -” That was as far as she got before she was reduced to another bout of giggles, more contained this time. She waved away Lexa’s raised eyebrow, finally getting to her explanation, “I saw a picture once, that was of Finn in college, and he was totally wearing a fedora.” 

Now it was Lexa’s turn to laugh, although it was more of a chuckle, before she said, “Really? Damn I’m good.” 

Clarke nodded, before slumping back into the booth seat. “Yes, yes I’d say you are,” she had a twinkle in her eye, but an apologetic set to her mouth, “Sorry about that, by the way. I had no idea he was going to show up and ruin our evening, even if you did act fabulously.”

Lexa waved the apology away with a flick of her wrist, “Nonsense. If anyone should apologize, it should be Finn. Besides, watching fuckboys get torn apart is one of my favorite things. And you certainly tore him apart.” Lexa raised her wine in toast to that, which Clarke reciprocated, raising her own. 

“Thank you, but you helped me in the ‘tearing apart’ department. In fact, I’m not entirely sure he would have left if it wasn’t for you.” Clarke clasped her hands together and tilted her head, only partially mock swooning as she said, “My hero!” 

Lexa took on a serious expression, nodding her head once, before saying, “Not a problem, ma’am. Just doing my job as your friendly neighborhood hero.” 

Clarke chucked again, nodding along, “Right, I’m sure you save plenty of damsels, all ready to swoon into your arms as you ride away into the sunset on the motorcycle I’m somehow sure you have.” 

Lexa raised her glass again, looking Clarke in the eyes. “But only the pretty ones actually get a ride. Bonus if they can verbally crush someone.” She smirked as she took the last swig of her wine. “But,” she continued as she put down her now empty glass, “it is nice to know when said pretty not-so damsel has at least some of the same taste in music as you.” 

Clarke looked confused, “Excuse me? How would you know we have the same taste in music?” 

“Well for starters, you quoted ‘Bad Blood’ by Taylor Swift twice,” Clarkes face began to clear, “and then you followed up lyrics from ‘Done’ by The Band Perry.” 

Clarke, who was still wearing a slightly confused expression, said, “Umm yes, those are two of my faves, and I’ve basically been listening to them on repeat since my break up, but I don’t recall _quoting_ them…”

“Really? Really you don’t remember? ‘Band-Aids don’t fix bullet holes’ isn’t ringing a bell? What about ‘just don’t’ or ‘I’m through with you. I’m done with all you’re selfish ways and all the games you play’?” 

Clarke looks shocked. “No. Nuh-uh. I didn’t say that. Did I?”

“Oh, you most certainly did,” Lexa says, amused expression back on her face, “and it was quite wonderful, truly. I don’t think Finn had the slightest idea you were quoting breakup songs.” At that, Clarke burst out laughing again. A sound that Lexa would certainly not get tired of hearing any time soon. She wondered idly how often she could get Clarke to laugh like this. 

“Ok, but to be fair,” Clarke started between fits of giggles, “neither did I. Only you caught that. Who knew that female artist came to me with words of sass and wisdom in times of need?” 

Lexa chuckled, leaning back in her own booth, lacing her hands behind her head, “Who knows, but it works well. So what do you say? Should we order dessert,” she scanned the nearly empty plates in front of them, “or call for the check?” 

“Well that depends,” Clarke started, leaning forward, her elbows on the table, hands propping up her head as she looked back at Lexa. “Were you serious earlier, when you said the fun would start later, or was that just to get at Finn?” 

Lexa cocked an eyebrow, placing her hands back on the table. “Honestly? A little bit of both. But you shouldn’t feel pressured into doing anything you don’t want to.”

Clarke smirked, “Obviously.” 

Lexa twitched her lips in a half smile, before continuing, “I do, however, have a general rule that I don’t sleep with people as a rebound.” She eyed Clarke up and down again, “Although, for you? I could make an exception, if that’s what you want.”

Clarke turned and found the waitress, waving her over. “We’d like a check please.” 

“Would you like a box?”

Clarke looked at Lexa, who shook her head. “No, we’re all set. Thank you, Tessa.” She turned back to Lexa, who was still staring at her, eyebrow cocked. 

“So? What does that mean?” 

Clarke just shrugged. “It means we can always eat dessert somewhere else.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, for anyone who believes in reincarnation, I'm sorry if I got the concept wrong, I'm vaguely going off what I learned about Indian religions like two years ago. 
> 
> Also, if you haven't heard Bad Blood by T swift yet, you should totally check out the new video. It's amaze-balls. Music is a bit different from the CD, but still good.


	5. Dessert?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens after diner. (Clarke and Lexa continue to be smooth fuckers)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chaps a bit longer than my others. I hope you enjoy.

They did indeed get dessert somewhere else. After leaving _Grounders_ , Clarke decided that she wanted ice cream. 

“There’s actually a little parlor down the road if I recall, we can walk if you want.”

Clarke thought a moment, “You know what, it’s a nice night. Let’s walk.” She smiled at Lexa, who offered her arm, “Oh how chivalrous!”

“But of course, Clarke, being chivalrous is in my hero contract. It’s rule two, right after ‘save all damsels’.” Lexa smiled as Clarke linked arms with her.

“Oh? And how many rules to being a hero are there?” Clarke asked with an amused grin.

Lexa appraised Clarke silently for a moment before saying, “Well, that would be telling.” 

Clarke raised an eyebrow, “Touché.”

Lexa smiled, “Besides, wouldn’t it be more fun to find out as you go along? It’s much more interesting that way, I can assure you.” 

Clarke sighed dramatically, slightly leaning into Lexa’s shoulder, “If you say so.”

“I do. And look, the ice cream place is right over – hum.” Lexa had raised her hand, but let it fall back to her side when she took in the dark building. “Well that was unexpected. They must be closed.” She glanced at her watch, 8:47 pm. 

“Oh noooo!” Clarke exclaimed, as she collapsed into Lexa’s side completely, forcing the brunette to catch her, lest she fall on the side walk, “My ice cream.” She pouted, looking up at Lexa, “What are we going to do now?”

If Lexa didn’t know any better, she would have sworn Clarke was drunk, or on the verge of tears. Maybe both. “Umm,” She glanced around quickly, noticing a 24 hour convenience store down the road a ways. “Ok, come on,” She propped Clarke back up, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the shop, “I’ve got an idea.”

Clarke huffed, but let Lexa drag her by the hand down the street, “Aren’t Hero’s supposed to carry their damsels around? Something about ‘sweeping us off our feet’? I find this to be – ”

Lexa, who was currently leading Clarke, turned to her quick, cutting Clarke off as she dropped her hand and instead picked her up, cradling Clarke to her chest as her right arm went behind Clarkes shoulders and her left supported Clarke behind her knees, leaving Clarke’s arms to flare for a second before she hooked them around Lexa’s neck. 

“Better?” Lexa asked, turning her face to the right, leaving mere inches between her and Clarke. 

Clarke swallowed, very aware of how short her dress now seemed, and of Lexa’s hands on her bare shoulder and on the skin above her knee. Her fingers trailed through Lexa’s curls before she answered, purring, “Much. Thank you.” 

Lexa smirked as she caught Clarke staring at her lips, before turning her head as she started walking to the store again. 

Clarke released a slow breath when Lexa looked away first, dropping her head to Lexa’s shoulder. She had wanted to kiss her, and Clarke was trying to figure out what that meant. Usually she wasn’t this uncertain when it came to her feelings toward someone, she usually just went for it, but Finn showing up at dinner had messed her head up and she wasn’t sure if it was Lexa or the rebound she wanted. She wanted to want Lexa, and that in itself was enough of a reason to take things slow, at least till her head cleared a bit. She looked up when she felt Lexa stop, and realized they were in front of a convenience store. She felt Lexa begin to put her down, so she just buried her face is her neck and tighter her hold. 

“No.” Her voice was muffled against Lexa’s neck, and she felt her shiver slightly, but her voice was amused when she responded. 

“No? What do you mean no, Clarke? We need to go inside, and I’m pretty sure it’s frowned upon to carry people through the store.”

Clarke shook her head resolutely, not removing her face from Lexa’s neck. “No. You’re a Trooper, you get to live by your own rules. Carry me inside.” She paused, “Please? I’m comfy.” 

She felt, rather than heard, Lexa laugh, “Clarke, do you want ice cream or not?”

Clarke paused, “Ice cream?”

“Yes, inside there will be ice cream.” She turned her head so she was talking into Clarke’s ear before whispering, “Which I’ll get you, if you let me put you down.” 

Clarke tightened her hold briefly, fighting the shiver that Lexa talking in her ear caused, before sighing and saying, “Fine.” As Lexa put her down, she continued, “But there had better be some good flavors or I am not going to be pleased.”

Lexa chuckled at the grumpy-serious look on Clarkes face. It was kind of cute. “Noted. Come on,” She grabbed Clarkes hand again, pulling her inside, “Let’s go find out, Mr. Grumpy Gills.”

“Hey, you don’t get to quote Dory at me. I am _not_ Merlin.” 

Lexa laughed, “You kind of are right now. Now shush, I’m buying you ice cream, be happy.” Lexa smiled at Clarke, causing her resolve to falter as they made their way through the store. 

“Ok ok ok, but they better have some extremely chocolaty flavors, because that’s the only thing that can turn this night around at this point.” 

Lexa turned as she reached the freezer section, pulling Clarke into her with their still connected hands. She grabbed Clarke’s waist with the other, and as their bodies became flush, Lexa whispered, face again only inches from Clarke, “The only thing?” Lexa’s thumb gently grazed over the fabric of Clarkes dress on her hip, which, combined with the suddenness of Lexa’s action and their close proximity, was causing Clarke to have trouble breathing properly. “That’s a shame.” And just like that, Lexa was gone again, stepping aside to reveal the ice cream choices. “I hope they have the flavor you like, then.” Voice back to normal, Lexa acted as if she hadn’t just nearly given Clarke a heart attack for the _sixth_ time now. 

Clarke shook her head, trying to clear it, before replying, “Yea, me too.” She mumbled more softly, mostly to herself, “Lord knows I could use it to cool off.” But from the knowing smirk that made its way onto Lexa’s face, Clarke figured she hadn’t spoken too quietly. 

She scanned the flavors before spotting her favorite and yelling “Ah-ha!” as she ripped the freezer door open, grabbing a pint of Triple Chocolate Fudge with Brownie Chunks. She turned back to Lexa, beaming, holding out the ice cream as if it were a precious artifact. “I’ve found the thing to make everything better.”

Lexa looked at her face, then down to the ice cream, then back again, with an incredulous expression. “ _That_ is what’s going to turn the night around? I can’t believe that. My teeth ache just looking at all that chocolate.” 

Clarke looked offended as she snatched the ice cream back, cradling it to her chest like she would a baby. “Yes, _Lexa_ , this is exactly the right amount of chocolate to turn this night around and your poor attitude towards my ice cream isn’t going to change that!” She looked at the ice cream in her arms, “It’s ok baby, she didn’t mean that. You’re the best of the best. Don’t let anyone tell you any different.” She stroked her finger across the container in what could only be considered a loving manner. 

Lexa watched this strangely intimate exchange with a smile, not really wanting to interrupt Clarke’s moment. But the longer Clarke looked at the ice cream, the more Lexa’s fear grew that it was going to melt in her arms. “Umm Clarke?” She looked up at Lexa, “I’m sorry I insulted your ice cream choice. It is a very good choice. Are you ready to go now?”

Clarke nodded once, decisively, “Thank you. Apology accepted.” She turned on her heel towards the checkout, “Now we can go.”

Lexa just shook her head as she swung by the ‘Make it Yourself’ food section and grabbed a couple spoons before paying for the ice cream. Once outside, Clarke seemed egger to open up the ice cream, but Lexa stopped her. “Wait. Not yet.”

Clarke pouted again. “Lexa. Why are you toying with me like this. I can handle the sexual tension, but ice cream deprivation? That’s a whole new level of torture.”

Lexa chuckled, “You’re adorable when you pout. But I’m sure you knew that already.” She tugged her hand again, “Now come on, you’ll get your ice cream release soon enough.”

“Damn right, I’m adorable,” Clarke grumbled, as Lexa tugged her along. When she realized where she was being dragged too – the spattering of trees behind the store – she balked. “Whoa, we’re not going into those trees, are we?”

Lexa looked over at her as they stopped, eyebrow cocked, “Maybe. You’re not scared, are you?”

Clarke scoffed, “No, of course not.” She was, but she clearly wasn’t going to admit that. Instead she just said, “It’s just that if you were going to kill me, that seems like the place you’d do it. Buy me ice cream, lull me into a false sense of security, then BAM! Bye bye, no more Clarkey.”

“Clarkey?”

“Well it’s better than Princess.”

Lexa turned to face her fully, and added her free hand to the one that was already holding Clarke’s. “Well, how about this. I promise not to murder you when we get into the tree line. In fact, I promise to never murder you, not even a little bit, ok, Clarkey?”

“First off, that’s what ALL murders say, and secondly, only my friends get to call me Clarkey.”

Lexa put on a hurt expression, “Are we not friends, Clarke?”

Clarke looked Lexa in the eye and said, “I certainly hope not. I don’t fuck my friends.” She paused, “That happened before. Once. Too messy.” 

Lexa kept an impassive face and said, “Noted.”

Clarke continued, “I’ve also decided, not tonight. We’re not sleeping together tonight. Finn messed with my head and I don’t want to mess whatever this” She waved her hand holding the ice cream between them, as they stood in the back parking lot of the convenience story, “is, up. Just so you know.”

Lexa let a small smile cover her lips. “Also noted. Now come on! No more stalling, we’re going into the woods.”

Clarke started singing as Lexa pulled her towards the trees, “Into the woods we go, to face certain death? Who knows! With Super Trooper Crew leading the way, we may just make it home today! Those trees look scary and they make me weary.” 

Lexa sounded amused but didn’t turn around again, “You sure have a way with words, Clarke. Very nice song.”

“What can I say, I’m good with my mouth.” 

Lexa tightened her grip on Clarkes hand, but that was the only response Clarke got before they were in the fringes of the tree line. 

Clarke let out a low whine and Lexa finally looked back at her. “Want me to carry you again?”

Clarke thought for a split second before nodding her head vigorously, resulting in Clarke being in the same position she was in on the way to the store, but with the added comfort of ice cream soon to be eaten. She didn’t mind one bit. Clarke snuggled into Lexa, and Lexa tightened her grip, for which Clarke was grateful. The night had cooled off, and it was a bit more chill under the trees. The frozen dairy in her hands didn’t help, but she wasn’t going to complain about THAT to Lexa. 

They made it through the woods before Clarke really had time to think about it, arriving at a nice little duck pond with a few benches scattered around. The few clouds that were drifting though the sky occasionally blocked the almost full moon, making shadows shift and dance across the open ground and water. The sparse trees around made it very scenic. In a word, beautiful. Clarke wanted to capture this moment in paint, all dark colors and swirling moonlight. Clarke was so entrapped by the scenery that she failed to notice Lexa giving Clarke the same look Clarke was giving the pond. Lexa, breaking her stare, moved towards the nearest bench before gingerly setting Clarke down and taking the spot next to her and offering a spoon. 

Clarke, still in a daze, smiled at Lexa, taking a spoon. “Thanks. I got so caught up in the beauty here that I almost forgot about the ice cream.” She popped the top off and took a spoonful, “And that,” she pointed at Lexa with the spoon, “Never happens.” She finished as she popped the ice cream laden spoon into her mouth. Lexa’s eyes followed the spoon the whole way, only slightly envious. 

Lexa ducked her chin down and looked at Clarke through her lashes – her really _long_ lashes, Clarke noticed. “Does this mean that your night has successfully been turned around?” 

“Oh, I’d say I’ve been swept off my feet tonight. Quite literally.” Clarke smirked. “Twice.” 

Lexa gave a casual shrug and a smile as she leaned in with her own spoon, grabbing a scoop of what she considered a sugar overload. “I do what I can.”

“And that seems to be quite a bit, if I do say so myself.” Clarke took another spoonful of ice cream before continuing, “How did you even know about this place anyway? It wasn’t exactly out in the open.” 

“I’m a Trooper, Clarke. It’s my job to know things.” Lexa smiled as Clarke leveled a look at her that said she didn’t like that answer. “Or maybe I was just looking for a clearing and got lucky?”

“Nope, I don’t believe that either. You came back here with a plan. So is this the place you take all the girls? Wine and dine, then a nice little walk to the duck pond at night. Very romantic.”

Lexa was shaking her head, “I only came this way because _you_ wanted ice cream, if you recall. I happened to remember that the pond was back here when we went into the store. As a Trooper, I don’t just patrol my town; I get out to other areas on occasion. I found this place quite by accident the first time.” 

Clarke raised her eyebrow, incredulously, “So you were this romantic – on a whim?”

Lexa raised an eyebrow back, “Isn’t romance supposed to be spontaneous?” 

“Maybe… But it can also be planned out. Most of my romantic experiences in the past have been an in depth and thought out process.”

Lexa smiled, “On your part, or your past partners?” 

Clarke thought a moment, then said, “Both.” 

Lexa nodded, as if she expected this answer. “As I thought. Well I’ll probably be good for you then. Get some spontaneity in you.” 

“That’s not the only thing I’d like in me.” Clarke spoke without thinking again, and at Lexa’s eyebrow twitch and smirk, Clarke continued before she could say anything, “Ice cream. I want more ice cream in me.” And then to prevent herself from saying anything else too stupid, she took a large scoop of ice cream. This turned out to be a mistake, because she immediately got a brain freeze. 

Lexa started laughing when she saw the look on Clarke’s face, before asking if everything was alright. Clarke vehemently shook her head ‘no’, which only made Lexa laugh more. 

Clarke swallowed the ice cream and scrunched her eyes shut before grinding out, “Brian freeze. Bad. Laughing. Not helping.”

Lexa put a hand over her mouth, to help quiet her laughing, as she surveyed Clarke as she tried to make it through what must be a very intense brain freeze. “You want my help?” 

Clarke nodded, eyes still shut. “Please.” 

“How am I supposed to do that?” 

Clarke shrugged, annoyed, as she opened her eyes briefly to glare at Lexa, “Don’t know. Think of something. Before I die.” She shut her eyes again. 

“Well. I do have one idea… do you trust me?” Clarke nodded, not bothering to look at Lexa again. If she had, she would have seen Lexa move closer and her eyes flick to her lips. “Clarke.” 

Lexa’s voice was closer now, and Clarke could sense her hovering. But she thought her brain freeze was lessening, and didn’t want to break concentration, so she just hummed in reply. 

Lexa gently took Clarkes face in her hands, and Clarkes eyes popped open to stare at Lexa’s chin and graceful neck as she pressed a lingering kiss to her forehead. Clarke was not expecting that. Or the warm feeling that spread from where Lexa’s lips touched her. 

Lexa moved her face down to look Clarke in the eye, but didn’t move her hands or body any farther away from Clarke. “Better?” She asked in barely a whisper. 

Clarke slowly shook her head, without breaking eye contact. “Nope. Still pretty bad.” She matched Lexa’s tone, breathing out her answer. Both women knew Clarke was lying. 

“Well then. I’ll just have to try again…” Lexa was staring at Clarke’s lips, but she brought her eyes back up to Clarke’s as she bumped noses. “I’m going to kiss you know.” She searched Clarke’s eyes, which were less than two inches away, hovering half-lidded. “Is that alright?” 

Clarke met Lexa’s eyes fully for a moment, before closing them and the short distance between their mouths in lieu of a verbal answer. The kiss was soft and sweet, testing to see what each person wanted. Lexa didn’t move her hands away from their gentle hold on Clarkes face, but Clarke decided she wanted more, and went to hold Lexa closer. 

Unfortunately, in doing so, Clarke dropped the ice cream she was still holding. And it landed right in Lexa’s lap, causing the woman to jump in surprise, breaking the kiss as she looked at what was cold and sitting in her lap. Clarke sighed, mentally kicking herself as Lexa dropped her hands from Clarkes face and picking up the container before any melted ice cream could make its way onto her pants. 

She chuckled as she handed Clarke back the ice cream. “Seems the ice cream is being fickle tonight. First it gives you a brain freeze, then it gets dumped in my lap. What’s that about?”

Clarke just sadly shook her head as she looked at the ice cream, “Oh how you’ve betrayed me tonight. I trusted you. I believed in you. And now this.” She thrust it towards Lexa as she looked away, “Here, take it. I don’t need another Brutus in my life. I’ve had enough of that for one night.” 

Lexa looked at Clarke, amused, as she took the ice cream from her. “Harsh. But I don’t know, is it really a Brutus? I mean the brain freeze had a pretty nice end result. At least on my part.” She raised an eyebrow, as Clarke turned back to her.

“Oh, sure, it was a nice moment that came from my _incapacitating pain_ ,” She gave Lexa a pointed look, “But it was clearly jealous and ruined it. Now the moments gone and it’s all that things,” She pointed accusingly at the ice cream tub still in Lexa’s hands, “fault. Trust gone.” 

Lexa smiled as she set the ice cream on the bench beside her, away from Clarke. “Well,” She said, leaning in, “we could always try again.” She stopped a few inches from Clarke’s face. Clarke looked at Lexa before leaning in too, leaving the space between them almost non-existent.

“I can’t say I’d be opposed to that,” Clarke’s eyes were half closed again, and staring at Lexa’s mouth. 

Lexa, however, just smirked and said, “No, you were right,” as she leaned back, leaving Clarke to look at her with confusion until she said, “Moments gone.” She stood up and offered Clarke her hand. 

Clarke just pouted at it before she looked at Lexa’s smiling face from her spot on the bench. “That was mean,” Lexa’s smile just grew as Clarke grabbed her hand, “I mean, really. It’s one thing to tease me.” She pulled herself up and into Lexa’s space, pressing her body into Lexa, “It’s another thing _completely_ ,” she dropped her voice, face once again hovering close to Lexa’s, “To make me want to be wrong. That,” She paused as she watched Lexa’s eye’s drop to her mouth, and she grinned, “is just wrong.”

She turned and left Lexa standing there, a bit dazed, as she grabbed the ice cream and started for the trees. 

It only took Lexa a moment to regain her bearings and call after her, “Wait!” She jogged the few paces it took to catch Clarke, who kept walking, “I didn’t mean we couldn’t make a _new_ moment.” She was walking backwards in front of Clarke, staring at her face earnestly.

“Nope. Regrets just something you’re going to have to live with, Lexa. You made your bed. Now lie in it.”

A sly smile spread on Lexa’s face, “Only if you will join me.” 

Clarke faltered a bit, before regaining her composure and continued walking, “Where do you even come up with these lines? I’m pretty sure being this smooth is illegal.”

Lexa full out laughed as she fell into step besides Clarke as they hit the trees, instead of walking in front of her, “I’m a Trooper, Clarke. I’m pretty sure it was you who, not too long ago, said I got to live by my own rules.” She smiled and bumped Clarke’s shoulder with her own, sticking her hands in her pants pockets. “Besides, you’re not too bad yourself.” 

Clarke snorted. “I know _I’m_ smooth.” She paused as side-eyed Lexa, who had an easy grin on her face, as the parking lot came into sight, “I wax regularly.” 

Lexa’s grin fell as her head turned to look at Clarke to read her expression, which was just a sly smile as she looked around the empty parking lot they stepped into, before heading back towards _Grounders_. Lexa gave Clarke a slow up and down, which Clarke pretended not to see, before saying “Oh, really?” As she followed Clarke through the parking lot. 

“Really.” Was all Lexa got as a reply, so she tried another question. 

“And just how far up your legs do you wax?”

Clarke grinned cheekily up at Lexa, “Now that,” She leaned closer, brushing shoulders, “Would be telling. Besides,” She continued as Lexa smirked, “I never said it was my legs.” She raised both her eyebrows at Lexa’s expression, before saying, “Maybe I wax my back.” 

Lexa was caught so off guard another laugh was startled out of her, in which Clarke slapped her arm for. “You know, if I _do_ wax my back, I could be very offended at you laughing at me right now. I can’t help it if I’m hairy.”

Lexa stopped her laughing as they reached her car, but didn’t contain the amused set of her lips. “My apologies, Ms. Griffin.” She opened the car door for Clarke to climb in. “I did not mean to cause offense, if that is the case.” Clarke huffed, containing a smile, and nodded as she got in her seat. Lexa continued, “But I can’t wait to find out for myself, either way.” 

Clarke’s eyes widened and her head turned to Lexa as she shut the car door, for which Clarke was grateful. The time it took Lexa to walk around to the driver’s side was enough for Clarke to get her face back under control. She spoke up as Lexa got in the car, “That was a nice recovery. I bet you’re so pleased with yourself right now.”

“I’m on a date with a beautiful woman who’s full of wit and charm.” She turned her head to look at Clarke as she started the mustang. “What’s not to be pleased about?”

Clarke smiled, “Damn right you are. I would say ‘damn straight’ but ah,” she looked back at Lexa, “I don’t think that applies here.” 

Lexa chuckled, “That would be correct Clarke,” She said as she pulled out into the street, “That would be correct.”


	6. The Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically friend interactions, and a bit of back story on Lexa's part.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, not much actual Clexa interactions, but the Blake siblings are introduced.  
> Octavia is a little shit. Not sure where that trend came from, but I'm fully behind it.

Clarke was humming happily, as she unlocked her apartment, still caught up in the glow of a successful date. She was already looking forward to next Friday, when it was Clarke’s turn to take Lexa on a date. Usually she would think setting up a second date at the end of the first was a bit rushed, and perhaps a bit clingy, but somehow Lexa made less than a week without another date seem too long already. And she was pretty certain Lexa felt the same way, judging by the way she had pushed Clarke up against her car to kiss her goodbye at the library before they went their separate ways for the night. Clarke sighed. That had been nice. The whole night had been nice, really, even with the unwelcome intrusion that was Finn. And instead of getting angry and storming off or starting a fight with Finn as some of Clarke’s Ex’s would have, Lexa had acted cool and collected, even helping Clarke get rid of him in an orderly fashion. So yea, all in all, a good night. 

Clarke jumped when a loud bang came from her right, causing her to yell and clutch her purse to her chest.

“Where have you been, young lady? It is past your curfew!”

“RAVEN WHAT THE FUCK. ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME,” Clarke yelled, as she realized the noise and subsequent verbal harassment was her best friend, banging a wooden spoon on the kitchen counter. 

Raven busted out laughing, clutching her stomach as she doubled over, “Your face! You should have seen your face, Clarke! Gold, pure gold.” She wiped a tear from under her eye as she stopped laughing, and Clarke just glared at her. 

“First of all, Raven, I’m a grown ass woman and I don’t have a curfew. Especially on Saturday night. And” She looked at her clock, 10:43, “it’s not even eleven o’clock yet.” Raven just grinned, and Clarke continued, advancing until she was about a foot away, hands on her hips, “ _Secondly_ , I thought I told you to be gone before I got back. I should have you arrested. I could, I’m dating a Trooper,” Raven quirked a brow at that, but Clarke ignored that, “Thirdly, you’re only older than me by nine days. You do not get the privilege of calling me ‘young lady’.” 

Raven scoffed at that, and cut in, “Oh please, that just means we’re both young ladies. Besides,” she wiggled her eyebrows, “If I ever manage to reel in momma Griffin, I’ll be able to call you whatever I want. You’d be like, my step-daughter AND sister/best-friend.”

“Ugh, no. If you ever actually try hooking up with my mom instead of just talking shit about it, you will have revoked your title as best-friend.” 

“But Clarkey, don’t you want to see us both happy? How could you be so mean as to put your own feelings before two peoples who are in love!”

“Of course I want to see you both happy. Just separately. As in not together. Besides Raven, I’m not putting my feelings before ‘two peoples who are in love’ I’m putting them in front of yours, which is completely reasonable. And you are not in love with my mom.” 

“I’m in love with the idea of _banging_ your mom.”

“RAVEN, I SWEAR TO GOD.” Raven busted out laughing again and Clarke just huffed before walking to her couch and plopping down, taking off her shoes. “Now getting back to the main point. Raven, what are you still doing here? Don’t you have a home to get to? A party to attend? Something?”

“I’m right where I’m supposed to be, Missy. I’m here for the moral support of my best friend, after her first date. One she was nervous for.” She gives Clarke a pointed look, as she joined Clarke on the couch, “One that went so well you were humming when you came in and didn’t even notice me standing six feet away.”

Clarke sighed, “Yea. Now don’t get a big head,” Raven smirked, “don’t go getting a bigger head, but I am glad you’re here.” She was gazing softly at the wall, lost in her head again, but her smile faded a bit as she looked back at Raven, “Finn followed me.”

“WHAT?” She jumped up, angry, “Where’s that absolute useless dildo now? Useless piece of motherfucking road trash. I’m going to break my cane over his head. Stalk _my_ best-friend? I don’t fucking think so.” She glared at Clarke, thinking of all the places she could hide a body, “Please tell me he’s laying by the road somewhere, bleeding out.” Clarke just smiled at her friend as she got worked up, and shook her head. “No? Fuck. Arrested?” Now she sounded hopeful, sitting back down next to Clarke. 

“No, not arrested, either.” Clarke was still smiling, and Raven shoved her shoulder.

“Well speak then, woman! I need to know! What happened with the douche-canoe and the Hot Trooper?” Clarke just looked at Raven, amused. Raven was on the verge of taking Clarke by the shoulders and shaking her, and Clarke could tell. So she began to recount the night. 

“Well first of all, whoever thought suspenders were a good idea should be praised for all time…” 

 

~

 

Lexa was in a similarly buoyant mood. She was smiling softly all the way home, and when she got to her small two-story house, she threw her keys on the counter before yelling up the stairs to the space she rented out, “Hey Blake! You’ll never guess what happened tonight!” 

A female voice drifted down the stairs, as a pair of footsteps followed, “You shoot someone?” 

“Octavia,” Lexa grinned, “I didn’t know you were here. Honestly, I don’t know why you spend so much time with your brother. At least,” She gave Octavia a pointed look, “So late on a Saturday.”

Octavia just shrugged and made an ‘eh’ sound. “It’s movie night and he said there would be ice cream. But apparently, he lied and now he’s out buying some.”

Lexa grinned again, “Ice cream’s a good choice.” 

Octavia looked at Lexa appraisingly, hands in her jeans pockets as she stood barefoot on the hardwood floor, “So what happened tonight? By the look on your face, had to be something big. Never seen you smile so much.” Octavia paused as she leaned against the counter, “Win the lotto or something?”

Lexa shrugged, “Just had a really good date.”

Octavia raised an eyebrow, “Couldn’t have been too good if you’re standing here at eleven at night. What happened?” Octavia grinned cheekily, “Couldn’t seal the deal? Wilt under pressure? Failed to get it up? Or,” Octavia added thoughtfully, “You had a quickie in the car just like you were in high school. Which, I mean, understandable, I’d fuck you in your car, that thing’s hot.” 

It was, at that moment that Bellamy decided to come in through the door, with no context and his little sister saying she’d fuck his partner in her car. He cleared his throat, and both women turned to face him, Lexa with an amused expression on her face, and Octavia looking as innocent as ever, “Hey big bro, you get the goods?”

“I don’t know. Were you just saying you’d fuck Lexa in the back seat of her car?”

“Of course not! She was just about to tell me about her supposedly awesome date, which I don’t think could have been that good because she is here, fully dressed, instead of in some compromising and extremely naked positions with said date.” Octavia smiled happily as she stepped forward, digging through the bags he was holding. “Besides,” She said, pulling out the tube of mint chocolate chip, “I never said I’d fuck her in the back seat. The front would do.” She sent a wink Lexa’s way as Bellamy let out a frustrated sigh as she skipped to the cupboards and pulled out some bowls. She then turned around and pointed an ice cream scoop at Lexa, who just chuckled and shook her head at her antics. “So, spill, Miss Stoic. What’s got you so smiley for once? I haven’t seen that face in a while.”

Bellamy cut in, “Yea Lex, what’s this about a date? I thought you were going to the gym?” He scanned her outfit, “Those certainly don’t look like workout clothes.” 

Lexa shrugged, “I lied. I didn’t know how the date was going to go and I didn’t want you to get all crazy over it.”

Bellamy held his hand to his chest, as if offended, “Why, I never. When have I gone crazy over your dates?” 

“Stella, Bernice, April,” Lexa ticked off her fingers, and Octavia cut in. 

“Don’t forget that chick Courtney, or Alice.”

“Right.” Lexa looked at Octavia as she scooped ice cream, “And he wonders why I’ve stopped telling him about my dates.” 

“What do you mean? I didn’t go crazy over those dates.”

Octavia snorted and Lexa looked back at him, “You ran a background check on all of them,” She states, deadpanned, “and you gave Courtney the third degree when she came to pick me up.”

Bellamy just scoffs, “Well that Courtney was a questionable character. When someone shows up to the door in sweatpants for a date, they are begging to be questioned.”

Lexa rolls her eyes, “We were going to a costume party, Bell. She was dressed as a College student at finals week.” 

“Doesn’t matter.” His eyes softened, “I’m just looking out for you. I don’t want you to get scammed again.” 

Lexa shakes the uneasy feeling off, the one she gets whenever Costia was brought up. “Don’t worry Bell, Costia is in the past, and I can handle myself.”

“Right, that’s why I’m living in your house, paying rent when you could be a homeowner living comfortably by now, except that someone lost a huge portion of their savings when her ex-girlfriend-slash-grifter got ahold of her bank accounts.” 

Octavia could sense an argument coming, and she decided to intervene before the night was ruined. Plus, she really wanted to know about this date. “Hey hey hey! We’re getting off point. I believe someone was about to tell us about her date.” She looked at Lexa, then to Bellamy and raised one of the bowls in his direction. “plus, ice creams ready.” She looked back at Lexa, who’s pose had relaxed again at the mention of her date, “Want some?” She wagged a spoon at her.

“No, I’m good. I already had some.” She had a soft smile on her lips as she looked at the ice cream on the counter. 

“See Bell? She’s doing it again. Snap out of it woman, and tell us about the date!” 

Lexa looked up to Octavia’s eyes, amused, and began, “Well, where to start?”

“The beginning would be nice.” Bell cut in.

Instead, Lexa went with, “Well, her ex-boyfriend showed up at diner.” Causing both Blake’s to stare at her, one in shock, and one in amusement. 

Octavia was the later, and grinned, “No,” She shoved the ice cream in the freezer, grabbed her bowl with one hand and Lexa’s with the other as she made her way into the living room, “Come on, this is a juicy one, I can tell.” She pushed Lexa onto the couch, plopping next to her, and looked back at Bell, who was still standing at the door, a bit shell-shocked. “Well? You going to stand there all night, or come join the conversation, Bell?” 

He walked over a bit reluctantly, and sat down in a chair across from the two women. “I really think you should start at the beginning.”

Octavia scoffed, tugging on Lexa’s arm. “Fuck that, skip to the juicy middle parts! Then go to the other, more boring parts if you must.”

“And this is why you don’t tell stories, O.” Bellamy sent a glare at his sister, and she just shrugged while Lexa chuckled. 

“Ok. Well. I pulled this woman over the other day, I gave her my card, we met again at the Court House, we went to diner, her ex showed up, there was a discussion, he left, we had dessert, and now I’m here.” 

Octavia groaned. “Oh my good getting details from you is going to be like pulling nails, I can tell.” She gave Bellamy a long suffering look, “We’re going to have to delay our movie, I’m afraid. We’ve got guts to spill here.”

Bellamy nodded solemnly. “Especially if this is the same blond girl I saw her talking with at the Court House.” He looked at Lexa, “Is it?”

“Well that’s a good possibility, as I only talked to one person at the Court House.”

“Damn. Well it’s a good thing I had to go talk to the judge that day; otherwise I’d have no clue who you went on a date with.”

Octavia pouted, “Well I don’t. Describe her!” She directed that at her brother, but Lexa was the one to respond first. 

“Amazing.” The Blake siblings started at her, and she had to work to keep her face impassive and not blush. “What?”

The siblings shared a look, before Octavia said “Nothing. Now get on with the story, woman! And this time, I want to hear the story, not the official report.” 

Lexa smirked, “Fine. So this woman was speeding at about 30 miles over the speed limit when I pulled her over…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, I just typed this up real fast so I could post it, sorry if there were more mistakes than usual. 
> 
> Next chap. we'll be back with the Clarke and Lexa interactions, I promise. 
> 
> Thank you everyone for your support ^.^ I wasn't sure this was going to be more than 1 chapter, and now I've made it to 6. You guys are great!!


	7. Date #2 - Ah-Maze-ing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Date #2!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you like it!

Friday arrived fast for Clarke. On top of juggling work, her mother, and Raven, she had to get ready for her date. For that, she had a lot to do. First and foremost, think of the perfect one. Or, perfect for both her and Lexa. She didn’t want to go with something ordinary, like the movies, or a museum – which was usually her go to date night, just to see how her date reacted to being surrounded by art. No, Clarke wanted something special, and if outdoing Lexa’s spontaneous romantic ice cream at the park idea was a side effect, well, Clarke wasn’t complaining. 

On Monday, it hit her. The perfect date, one that both she and Lexa would (hopefully) enjoy. She called up Monty to ask if it was a plausible idea, and he gave the affirmative that it was not only possible, but he’d go so far as to help set it up, and promised to recruit Jasper as well, which relieved Clarke immensely. Now that she had a plan, she could put it in motion. 

Every spare moment that Clarke could carve out of her week, she spent at Monty’s farm, until she was satisfied that everything was set up. By Thursday night, Clarke was ready, and called Lexa to give her directions of what she wanted her to do. 

“Hello, Ms. Griffin. Are you going to tell me where we’re going for our date now?” Clarke could hear the amusement in her voice – they had been texting on and off throughout the week, and Lexa had been trying to get the details of the date from her; Clarke wouldn’t give her any, and Lexa said that was because Clarke didn’t have a date planned yet.

“Nope. It’s a surprise. But I’m calling to tell you that we can meet at the same place, at five thirty. Dress casual.”

“Does ‘it’s a surprise’ stand for ‘I’m going to wing it’? And how casual is casual?”

Clarke chuckled, “Have some faith, Lexa, this will be fun. And as casual as you want. But, I do have one request.” Clarke hesitated, knowing Lexa would probably find this amusing as well.

“Well, Clarke, what is it?”

“I want you to wear suspenders.” Clarke rushed out, before she could change her mind. 

Clarke could almost hear Lexa’s eyebrow rise, “So, you liked the suspenders, huh?”

“‘Liked’ is a soft word. But, your choice, dress casual either way.” Clarke’s face turned pink, and she was glad that Lexa couldn’t see her.

“Ok, Clarke, I’ll dress casual and meet you at five thirty. Anything else I need to be prepared for?”  
“Umm nope, just bring your A game and your lovely self, that should be enough.”

“Done. See you tomorrow, Clarke.” 

“Yes, tomorrow.” Clarke smiled as she hung up the phone. 

~

Clarke beat Lexa to the parking lot again, pumped and excited to see her and have the ‘super awesome date’ (Raven’s words) that she had planned out all week. It was nerve wracking and exhilarating all at once. She was leaning against her car as she waited this time, wearing cutoff jean shorts and a simple black tank top. The weather was nice and the sun was still shining, so she didn’t mind sun bathing for the moment. If all worked accordingly, the sun would set at just the right time for the romantic portion of her planned evening to set in. 

With her head tilted back and her eyes closed, she didn’t see Lexa drive in, but she heard a car, and opened her eyes expectantly, standing up straighter. Sure enough, the yellow mustang backed in next to her. She watched, a smile playing on her lips, as the car shut off and the door opened. Lexa stepped out, the women diagonal from each other in the space between the two vehicles. Neither said anything for a moment, as Lexa leaned against her own car, appraising Clarke, as Clarke appraised her. 

Lexa was wearing a tank top as well, but a dark blue one, that was tucked into a pair of khaki shorts, and, god damn, a set of white suspenders to complete the outfit. Clarke was thankful she had made that suggestion, regardless of what Lexa may have thought about it. 

After another moment of staring, Lexa finally broke the silence, raising an eyebrow. “See something you like, Clarke? You’re staring.”

Clarke nodded slowly, “That’s a nice pair of suspenders you got there.” _I’d like to take them off, along with everything else you’re wearing_ , was left unsaid by Clarke, but from the smirk on Lexa’s face, she could probably read Clarke’s mind. 

“I’ve got many.” 

Clarke’s eyes flashed up to Lexa’s, from where she had been admiring Lexa’s suspenders, (most certainly not her toned arms, or her chest), “Well, make that seven times you tried to kill me via heart attack. Now come on,” she waved to her car, as she turned to hop in, “We need to get going. Clock’s a ticking!” 

Lexa smiled as she made her way around to the other side of Clarke’s car, locking her own with the key fob. “I didn’t know we had a time schedule to stick to.” She slid into the passenger seat as Clarke started the engine. “Maybe if I knew what we were doing I could be more…” she dropped her voice and lightly traced Clarke’s right forearm that was clutching the gear shift, eyes flickering at her through lowered lashes, “helpful.”

Clarke shivered lightly, but shook her head as she shot Lexa a look. “Nope. Not going to work. Now sit back and relax. We’ve got places to be!”

Lexa chuckled and leaned back into her seat, getting comfortable. “It was worth a shot.” 

~

By six, they had pulled into a driveway, to what must have been a farm of some sort. Lexa thought she saw some chickens scamper behind the large greenhouse that was in the side yard, and what looked like giant round hay bales covered in white-ish sheets of something in the field behind the one-story ranch style house. She looked at Clarke, “Are we going to catch our own food, or what? What are we doing on a farm?”

“Not exactly. Food comes later. But I hope you have good aim.” She smiled as she got out of the car, Lexa following suit, a small frown on her face. 

“Did you bring me out here to shoot someone, Clarke? Because, as you know, I’m a State Trooper, and if I’m caught taking people off your hit list, I would be extremely inconvenienced.”

Clarke laughed, “Lexa, if we were caught, we’d both be in prison.” She opened the back door of her car, before grabbing something and tossing it to Lexa, which she caught with ease.

“Like I said. Extremely inconvenienced.” She eyed the white painting coveralls in her hands. 

“Well don’t worry, I don’t get into my hit list and asking for ‘favors’ until at least the third date.” 

“Good to know. I’ll be sure to wear disposable clothing, next time.” She lifted the coveralls up, “Now, care to explain these?” 

“Nope!” She smiled cheekily, “but you may want to put them on. I would hate for that wonderful outfit to get ruined.” She cocked her head. “Although, having to take it off you might make it worth it.”

“I didn’t bring any spare clothing, Clarke. What would I wear?”

“Preferably nothing. But!” Clarke smiled, “That’s why I got you that.” She pointed at the coveralls. “It’s best we get these on now.” She started pulling hers on, and Lexa followed her lead.

Lexa had the pants on, and the torso part bunched around her waist when she saw some figures exiting the house. She nodded her head, “Friends of yours?”

Before Clarke could respond, one of the people called to them, waving his arm frantically above his head, as if they couldn’t see him, “Clarke! Hey! You made it!”

Clarke rolled her eyes, smile on her face, as she turned to greet the two boys, pulling her arms through the sleeves of her coveralls and pulling the zip up. “Of course I made it, you oaf. This was my idea, remember?” 

The man, who, Lexa observed, had on a tie-dye shirt with jean shorts and goggles on his head, (What was their purpose, she wondered?) and floppy brown hair over part of his face, was smiling broadly as he drew closer. He seemed to be appraising Lexa in her semi-coverall covered form, and she just raised an eyebrow coolly at him as she stuffed her arms into the sleeves. She then turned her attention to the other floppy haired male, who seemed to be going for the full farmer effect in jean overalls over a white long sleeve, topped with a straw hat and mud boots. (All he was missing was a pitchfork and grumpy expression). She decided she liked his face, however, as it was sweet and sincere. He also didn’t seem to be eyeing her like the taller lanky one, so that was a plus. 

“Of course he doesn’t remember, Clarke. If you asked him, the whole thing was his idea. And will be told that way in the future, I’m sure.” The man in the hat smiled and nudged the man in the goggles, as he huffed indignantly. 

“If I recall, I was an integral part of the planning process.”

Clarke cut in, “And that’s why we don’t let you recall things, Jas.” She gestured to Lexa, “Guys, this is Lexa, my date,” Lexa could have sworn Clarke sent a warning glare at goggles on the emphasis of ‘my’, but she wasn’t one hundred percent positive, “Lexa, this is Monty,” she indicated the man in the hat, “and Jasper.” That was directed at goggles. 

Lexa inclined her head, face as stoic as it has been since she saw strangers approaching. “Nice to meet you. I may yet live to regret this, but I will also thank you in advance for helping Clarke with whatever it is she has planned.” 

The man, Jasper, bowed grandiosely, saying, “Oh, but you are so welcome, fair lady!” He straightened up and smiled, “You surly won’t regret it if Clarke is involved.” He wiggled his eyebrows and leaned in, stage whispering, “Am I right, or am I right?” Lexa was inclined to agree, but instead of saying anything to encourage him, she just stared at him. He didn’t seem deterred, “But you can thank her later. If you kno-” His sentence, which Lexa was certain ended in ‘what I mean’, was interrupted when Monty elbowed him in the side.

“Leave it alone, Jas. I thought we had the discussion of not poking bears?”

Jasper looked at Monty, “Umm yea, but I don’t see -”

He interrupted him again, “Well it looks like Lexa could win a hand to hand fight against one, so poking at her is worse.” Monty sent an apologetic smile towards Lexa for his friend, before tugging him towards the house, waving to the women to follow. “Now come on, we’re ready for the last piece needed, and then we’ll leave you alone.”

Clarke nodded, grabbing Lexa’s arm as if she was worried she would run away. “Alright, but I’m holding you to that, Monty. Keep your eye on Jasper and his nose out of our business.”

Monty grinned over his shoulder at Clarke, saying “I’ll do my best,” even as Jasper objected.

“I’m standing right here, you know!” 

Lexa listened to their banter as she scanned the area, looking at the green house as they strolled past. She was staring at what looked suspiciously like cannabis through the walls, when Clarke claimed her attention again, shoving something cold into her chest.

“Here you go, Ms. Crew. Your weapon of choice.”

Lexa looked down at the gun in her hands, pieces connecting in her head. “Paintball? We’re playing paintball?” She looked back into Clarke’s amused face, “Also, ‘weapon of choice’ would imply I chose it. Which I did not. I actually prefer knives.” 

Clarke rolled her eyes, smile still playing at her lips, “fine, here’s your weapon of my choice. And sorry, there are no knives with the ability to splatter paint, so you’re stuck with that. I hope you’ve got good aim.” She turned, grabbing a few different cartridges that looked full of different paintballs as far as Lexa could tell, off the outdoor pick-nick table, before continuing, “And no, we’re not playing paintball.” She turned back around again, arms full. “At least not today. Now come on,” she looked at the sky, which was getting pinkish as the sun got closer to the horizon, “We’ve got to hurry now.” 

They made their way over to the field of giant hay bales, which, Lexa could now see, were covered in sheets of thick Manila paper. Lexa ideally wondered where you could get paper that big, as she noticed different designs on some of the bales. To Lexa’s untrained eye, it all just looked like a jumble of things; a curve here, a line there, something that looked like hazy squiggles. But as it was set up in what Lexa considered a maze, she couldn’t make out any one set pattern. Clarke, however, seemed to know exactly where she was going, and soon seemed satisfied that they were at a good place to start. What they were starting, Lexa still wasn’t sure, but was beginning to get an idea. 

“Here.” Clarke nudged Lexa with her arm, “Now, for this to work, we have to move quickly and efficiently. Can you do that, Solider?”

Lexa smirked, but nodded solemnly, “As you say, General.” 

Clarke smirked back, “Ok Commander Hot-Pants, ready your weapon and hit that line there.” Lexa took aim and shot, spreading yellow out in an ark, as Clarke mused, “I wonder who’s higher ranked, a general or a commander.”

“A commander, naturally.”

Clarke didn’t respond to Lexa, and just steered her though the hay bales, switching out colors and cartridges every now and then, letting Lexa cover the bales in pinks, yellows, oranges and reds. The sun was sinking lower and lower, as Lexa and Clarke made their way in a circle, heading back to where they began. 

When they made it full circle, the bales all lined up, and made the pattern finally complete to Lexa. She realized it was a mural of the setting sun, all done in splatter paint. She couldn’t believe she had been part of making this piece of art. 

“Wow, Clarke, this is amazing.” She looked at her, as the sun began to set behind them, casting everything in and orange-ish glow. “How long did it take to set this up?”

Clarke shrugged, a sly smile forming on her face, “Oh, you know. Not too long. I just whipped something together, really.” 

A voice cut in, “Ha! She was working all week to pull this off!”

Clarke shot Jasper, the owner of the voice, a glare. “Private conversation, Jasper.” 

He waved his hand around them, smirking, “Private property, Clarke.”

“Yea, but it’s not yours.” Clarke shot back. “Besides, we,” She gestured between herself and Lexa, “asked permission to be here.” She gave him a pointed look. “So why are you still here now?”

He held his hands up in surrender, “Ok, ok, I get it, not wanted right now. But I just wanted to see the end result of all this hard work that went into it!”

Monty joined them at this point, jogging to catch up to his friend who seemed to have escaped his watch, “Jasper, you just stapled paper targets to the hay bales, it wasn’t that hard.”

“Yea, but putting the hay in the right spot was a lot of work!”

“Clarke and I did that,” Monty said, crossing his arms and smiling at his friend, who was still trying to save face.

“Ok, but the hay bales are big and my arms got tired from lifting the paper and staple gun above my head for extended periods of time, _repeatedly._ ” 

Clarke cut back in, before this argument could evolve anymore, “Guys! Excuse me?” She waved her hand between herself and Lexa again, “date? I’d like to get back to it.”

Monty gave her an apologetic smile, “Sorry, I turned my back for a second and he was gone.” He scanned the field quick, “But from the looks of things, it turned out great.” His smile was no longer apologetic, but genuine and bright. “Now come on Jas, let us leave the ladies be.” He tugged on Jasper’s sleeve as he turned to go, “I think the greenhouse needs watering…” Jaspers face lit up and he eagerly fell in besides Monty. 

Lexa, who looked amused the whole time, didn’t say anything as she watched them go, until they were out of earshot, then turned and raised an eyebrow at Clarke, “Is there weed in that greenhouse?” 

Clarke gasped and feigned shock, throwing her hand to her chest, “Why Ms. Trooper, Ma’am, Sir. I, as a law abiding citizen, would never be privy to such facts as pertain to under worldly matters!”

Lexa just smirked and rolled her eyes, turning back to the painting she had helped create. “Are you forgetting how we met? You weren’t very law abiding then. Besides, I’m off duty, so it’s just Lexa. And don’t worry, I won’t go snooping to see if my suspicions are correct. Just tell them to be more cautious around me – ” She looked at Clarke again, “You did tell them what I do, right?”

Clarke just shrugged, “Eh, it _may_ have slipped my mind to tell them that.”

Lexa smiled in return to Clarke’s cheeky grin, shaking her head. “You amuse me.” She looked back at the sunset she had helped to splatter paint, the one that mirrored the one at her back, “You amaze me.” 

“Yeah, I amaze myself too, sometimes.” Clarke pretended to shine her nails on her shoulder, before inspecting them, and Lexa just bumped into her shoulder, a small laugh escaping, before Clarke continued. “Like when I manage to score a date with someone talented, passionate, and handy with a gun.” She raised her eyes to meet Lexa’s, whose expression had turned from amusement to something torn between flattered and… intense. “Not to mention beautiful.” Ah, now Lexa’s look was full blown intense. Clarke had a flash back to the park, and casually looked around. “Have you seen anybody to fit that description? I haven’t amazed myself in a while.” 

Lexa’s intense gaze didn’t waver, as Clarke had expected it too, but a sly smile grew on Lexa’s lips (Clarke wondered briefly if she too, was remembering the park moment, and recognized this as the payback it was) as she stepped forward. “No? You haven’t amazed yourself lately?” Another step closer. Clarke realized how dark it was getting, dusk had truly fallen. Lexa’s eyes still held her gaze. “Well that’s a shame.” They were toe to toe now, and Clarke had to look up slightly to keep her gaze trained on Lexa’s. Lexa trailed her hands up and down the side of Clarke’s arms. She lowered her head and voice, breathing out the words to brush across Clarke’s face, “Maybe I can help, _amaze_ you, sometime.” 

They held their gaze for about another five seconds, before Clarke huffed out, saying “Sometime. Yea. Sounds good. How’s right now work for you?” 

Lexa smiled, amused again, eyes crinkling, “Clarke. We’re in an open field. The way I want to amaze you, would definitely violate some public decency laws.” She leaned back, putting some space between herself and Clarke, while not moving her feet or hands, “Besides, I’m pretty sure Jasper was checking me out earlier, and I don’t feel like putting on a show.” 

Clarke pouted, “But Lexi, it’s nearly dark out!” She said it mostly to keep face, she knew that Lexa was right. When Lexa didn’t say anything, just stood there looking amused, still sliding her hands up and down, Clarke crossed her arms, breaking contact with Lexa, and huffed again, this time in exasperation. “When you said you wanted to amaze me, I didn’t think you meant with your logic.” 

Lexa laughed, “Oh, I most certainly didn’t, but I’m glad I can amaze you in more ways than one.” She sent a wink towards Clarke, “I’m actually hoping for at least three different ways, myself.”

Clarke swallowed, and looked up. “That’s not fair. You’re playing dirty.” 

“Dirties the only way I like to play.” Damn that sly grin of hers, thought Clarke. 

“Fuck. I walked right into that one, didn’t I.” 

Lexa chuckled, “Big time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to TheSpaminator, who helped Beta this chapter ^.^


	8. Date #2 - Continued

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for taking so long with an update, I hope you enjoy this one!  
> Ps., to all my American readers, Happy independence day!!

Clarke was happy to see that Lexa had enjoyed the art portion of the night so far, but the date wasn’t over yet. Now it was time for food. She tugged on Lexa’s hand, pulling her back towards the house. “Come on, now I’m hungry.”

Lexa raised an eyebrow, “I bet you are.”

Clarke dropped Lexa’s arm now that she was following her, and slapped it instead. “Perv. I meant for _food_.” 

Lexa adopted an innocent face, “That’s what I meant. Whatever else would I be talking about?” She cocked her head to the side, creating the image of puppy in Clarke’s mind.

“Right, and I’d believe that when pigs fly, Lexa.”

Lexa nodded solemnly, not saying anything back. They walked in silence for a few moments, as Clarke lead her away from the car to the other side of the house. Then Lexa gasped, drawing Clarke to look behind at her date, as she pointed off at something in the sky, exclaiming “Clarke! Look! Did you see that?” 

Clarke followed Lexa’s gaze and hand, only seeing dark sky and the beginnings of stars making themselves known. “What, Lexa? I don’t see anything.” She looked back at Lexa, only to realize that she was no longer looking at the sky, but her focus was on Clarke. 

Lexa held her gaze, and then deadpanned, “You didn’t? I could have sworn there was a pig up there.” 

Clarke just stared back, incredulous expression on her face. “Remind me. Why am I on a date with you right now?” 

Lexa put on a shit eating grin before responding. “Because I’m hot?”

“Mmm, and thank god for that. But there has got to be more. I mean, how shallow do you think I am?”

Lexa pondered a moment, raising her hand to her chin to tap it with her pointer finger. “No….you’re right.” Her eyes slid back to Clarke’s, “After all, I saw Finn, so there HAS to be something more than looks that you’re attracted to.” 

That got a laugh from Clarke, “Lexa! That was rude.” But her easy grin told Lexa that she wasn’t really offended. 

“Wait, I got it. It must be my sense of humor you’re attracted too.” 

“Well it’s definitely not your ego, I can tell you that,” Clarke said as she turned and continued moving again.

Lexa snorted as she followed, “Oh please, that is totally what you’re attracted to.” She paused a moment. “That, and apparently suspenders.” 

“You know, I had a feeling you were going to make me regret asking you to wear those.” Clarke turned her head slightly and side eyed the woman behind her, as if re-visualizing what she was wearing. “But it hasn’t worked yet.” 

Lexa smirked as they rounded the house and a small two-person tent came into view. Lexa’s curiosity was growing as they got closer, and finally she had to ask as they stopped in front of it. “A tent? If I had known it was going to be a sleepover, I would have brought pajamas.” She though a minute. “No, scratch the pajamas, I would have brought a pillow.” She looked at Clarke. “I can sleep in the nude.” 

Clarke looked back at her, and raised an eyebrow. “If we shared a tent and you were in the nude, do you really think we’d be sleeping?” 

Lexa grinned and shrugged, “I didn’t want to assume. Besides, we’d have to sleep eventually.”

“You’re underestimating me.” Lexa raised both eyebrows at that, but Clarke continued, “But, that doesn’t matter right now, because we’re not having a sleepover, we’re having diner.” And with that she unzipped the tent, gesturing for Lexa to go first. She obliged, ducking down and stepping into the dark tent. Clarke followed, clicking a button that lit up four electric candles around the tent, showing Lexa that the tent was covered in thick rugs and blankets. 

She turned and looked at Clarke, “And what is it that we are supposed to be eating?” She gestured to the otherwise empty tent, and smiled, amused, “I mean, I haven’t had a good fleece in a while, but I was expecting something less wooly.”

“Ha ha, keep that up and you won’t be eating at all. Do you really think I’d leave the food out here to get cold? Jeez Lexa, have some faith. Don’t we deserve better than that?”

Lexa inclined her head, “Maybe we do.” 

“Ok, you wait here, I’ll go get the food. Feel free to make yourself comfortable, I’ll be right back,” Clarke said as she started to back out of the tent.

“Does this mean these” Lexa gestured to the painters suits, “can come off now?”

Clarke smirked, “Lexa, you can take off whatever you want.” She left with a wink and then Lexa was alone. She just shook her head, smiling as she started to shrug out of the extra clothing. 

~

Clarke practically skipped inside the house, going to the kitchen to grab the food. She didn’t see Jasper or Monty, which probably meant that they were indeed getting high in the greenhouse. All was the better, because that would keep them busy on the other side of the property for quite a while, giving her and Lexa a semblance of privacy. And if she knew Monty, and she did, he would be doing his best to keep Jasper occupied, and away from the tent. She hummed as she gathered up the food that Monty was keeping warm for her, and placed it all in the basket, along with a few cold drinks. Just lemonade and water, as she really didn’t want to have to stay at the farm because she drank too much (which was bound to happen if she had packed some of Monty and Jaspers homemade moonshine instead). After she had everything stowed away, she grabbed a folding tray and went on her way back out to Lexa.

Lexa, meanwhile, had shed the suit, and was currently laying down across the far side of the tent, hands tucked behind her head as she waited for the food, and Clarke, to arrive. She didn’t have to wait long before the tent unzipped and a tray fell through. Lexa looked over, not quite bothered enough to move, but still curious. Clarke’s head popped in next, taking in Lexa’s prostrated form. She had the fleeting thought of ‘accidentally’ tripping on the tent opening and falling across the very attractive woman, but scratched that idea because as fun as that would be, the food would also spill out across the very attractive woman. 

Lexa watched Clarke, an amused smile on her face, as if she could read Clarke’s mind. “Care to join me? I’m very comfy.” 

Clarke shook her head, sending a bright smile her way. “I’m glad to see you took my advice and made yourself comfortable. But, foods here, so sit up. Time to eat.”

Lexa stuck her bottom lip out, “Ok, but I’m laying back down afterwards.” She sat up and sniffed the air, “So what are we eating?” 

Clarke finished pulling her way in the tent and zipped it shut, before opening up the tray and setting the basket on it. “You don’t have any allergies do you? I probably should have asked before making you food, buttttt that’s something that slipped my mind with everything else that preoccupied me.”

Lexa chuckled as she scooted back, making more room for Clarke. “I thought this was something that you just ‘whipped up’.”

Clarke froze for a second, hands poised over the basket ready to take the food out, “umm, I do have work you know. And other things…to keep me busy.” She went back to taking the food out, and continued, “So, do you have any allergies or not?”

Lexa smirked, as she got an idea of what was in the basket when the sent infused the tent. “Only to seafood.”

Clarke looked up, wide eyed, “No. You’re kidding.” She threw her hands up, “But I made salmon!” 

Lexa looked at her solemnly for a moment, but then relaxed and shrugged, smile forming on her lips, “I know, I can smell it. I’m not really allergic, I just wanted to see you panic again. You’re so cute when you do.” 

Clarke dropped her hands with a sigh, “What happened to Miss Stoic, and how did I get Miss Jokester instead? Do I get a refund? Is there an exchange rate I should know about?”

“Ha ha, now who’s the jokester? But you’re right. I am usually much more stoic. I guess you just bring out the worst in me,” Lexa said this as she sent a lopsided grin in Clarke’s direction. 

Clarke huffed out a laugh as she set the salmon out, with the sides of baked asparagus sprinkled in sea salt, and diced red potatoes grilled in oil and seasonings. “Well if this is your worst, I can’t wait to see you at your best.” She looked up at Lexa through her lashes, as she arranged the plates of food on the small tray, putting the drinks off to the side.

“And I can’t wait to show it to you.” Lexa’s eyes flashed to the tent at Clarkes back, and beyond that, the house that was shielded from view. “Tell me, how likely is it that we will be bothered out here?” Her gaze flickered back to Clarke, “I could give you a preview of my best right now…” Lexa trailed off as she leaned forward and trailed her hand over Clarke’s thigh, which was still covered in in the painter’s coveralls. 

Clarke swatted her hand, “Tsk tsk, food will get cold. We must eat first.”

“First? Does that mean after we eat I get to give you a demonstration of my best?” 

Clarke felt a blush creeping up her cheeks as she cleared her throat, eyes trained on the food. “It means that we should eat first.”

Lexa chuckled, glad to see she had flustered the blonde once more. “Well in that case, let’s eat.” 

~

The food was delicious, and Lexa told Clarke so. Clarke just nodded, smiling cheekily, “Of course it is. I made it.”

Lexa smiled as she pushed her clean plate away and leaned back on her arms. “Silly me, how could I think anything that comes from your hands could possibly be bad? You’re into medicine, you’re an artist, you can cook – all good things to do with your hands.” Lexa reclined fully, hands back behind her head and legs stretched out, just how Clarke found her and just as she said she would do again after they ate. She glanced back at Clarke, who was watching her, not saying anything, seemingly lost in her own thoughts. “Is there anything else your hands can do that I should know about?”

Clarke shook her head, as if coming back to herself, “Hum? Sorry, I missed that last part.” She began putting the empty plates and containers back into the basket, before putting it outside the tent flap, followed by the tray they had been eating off. 

“I said, is there anything your hands can’t do?” Clarke could hear the amusement in Lexa’s voice, even though her back was to her. 

Clarke zipped the tent back up and turned, “Well. I’m really bad with engines.” She stood (as much as she could in the tent) and began to shuck out of her own painters suit. “Other than that, not much.” She smiled as she watched Lexa watch her take her outer most layer of clothing off, “But that’s what I have Raven for, so it really doesn’t matter.” 

Lexa looked back to Clarke’s face as she finished shucking off her suit and sat down on Lexa’s right side, between Lexa and the door. “So who’s this Raven? You’ve mentioned her twice now. Well, three if you count that phone call that I _totally_ wasn’t eavesdropping on.” 

Clarke smacked Lexa’s arm again, “I knew it! I knew you we’re there for a while!” She sighed as she thumped down on her back next to Lexa. “Raven’s my best friend and the resident mechanic. We’ve known each other for what seems like ever.” She turned her head to look at Lexa instead of the tent ceiling, “In fact, she’s probably going to be pretty pissed that Jasper and Monty got to meet you before she did.” Lexa raised an eyebrow, and Clarke continued, “Well, she’d probably be fine with Monty, but Jasper is crossing some sort of ‘best friend’ line.”

“So why is Monty fine but Jasper a no?”

Clarke chuckled, “You’ve meet them. You tell me.” 

“I see your point.”

Clarke looked back at the ceiling, “Monty is basically the embodiment of a cinnamon roll, and nobody that meets him can really stay mad at him. Then you have Jasper who…” 

Clarke was searching for a word when Lexa supplied one for her. “Isn’t?” 

“Well, in a sense, no. He means well and can be really sweet, but Monty often has to keep him out of trouble. Except that one time Monty almost got them both thrown in juvie, but that’s a story for another time.” She looked back at Lexa, “Ok, enough about my friends, what about you. Who knows out of work Lexa?”

It was Lexa’s turn to look at the ceiling while she talked. “Well, there’s my roommate, Bellamy, who is also my work partner, and his sister Octavia, who is over at our place often enough that she kind of forced me to be friends with her. She has a big personality, that one. Then there’s my older sister, Anya, and my Godfather Gustus. Those are my main circle people.”

“You have an older sister? Is she as attractive as you? Can I trade you in for an upgrade?” Clarke teased, and it was Lexa’s turn to bump her shoulder with her own. 

“If you think I’m intense, you should meet her.” Lexa turned her head to look at Clarke again, and smirked, “And no. No, you cannot trade me in, and _no one_ is as attractive as I am.”

Clarke smirked back. “Well I guess I’m stuck with you for the time being, but you’re wrong about the other thing.” Lexa squinted at her as she pursed her lips and raised her eyebrows, “You’re looking at someone as attractive as you.” 

Lexa’s lazy grin broke out again, replacing her challenging look from a second ago, “Now who’s being cocky? _And_ egotistical. I may start calling you Narcissist.” 

Clarke snorted, “Says the one that just said no one was as attractive as you. Besides, Raven told me that I was great, because she’s great, and she wouldn’t have a sub-par best friend, because greatness seeks greatness. So, _I have_ to be great in all ways, you see.” 

“Oh, Raven said that did she? I may have to meet this person who is so great as to get you as a best friend.” She leaned a fraction closer, “Is she single?” 

Clarke mimicked her, leaning in closer as well, “Maybe. But if you _do_ meet her, you won’t be.” Both person’s pupils were dilated, and Lexa’s eye’s darted to Clarke’s lips as she leaned back, “Or you will be, but either way, I wouldn’t try getting her number.”

Lexa chuckled as he eyes flashed back to Clarke’s, “What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“It means that if you meet her, either we’ll be dating already, therefore you won’t be single, or if we aren’t and she meets you, that means we ended on bad terms and she has hunted you down. Neither being good times to try asking someone out, now are they?” 

“Mmmm,” Lexa’s eyes were half closed now, staring at Clarke’s lips, and somehow their faces had gotten closer. She was just above a whisper when she talked again, “Can it be the former? After all, I wouldn’t want to meet Raven on bad terms.”

Clarke blinked rapidly a few times, and her head jerked back a fraction of an inch, causing Lexa to do the same, “Are you asking me to be your girlfriend on the second date, Lexa?” 

“…No, not exactly. I’m just saying I would rather get to that point than the other.” She searched Clarkes eyes, before leaning in again, “Besides, you wouldn’t have to answer right away.” 

Clarke just nodded, staring at Lexa. They were both silent for a moment, before Clarke said something.

“Lexa?” 

“Hummm?” Lexa was perfectly content to just stare at Clarke, and didn’t think she needed to answer with words. 

“Didn’t you say something about showing me your best after diner?” 

Lexa’s face didn’t change from her outwardly relaxed position, but her heartbeat started to speed up. “Only if you want me to.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I'm also sorry for that cliffhanger there... but not to worry! Hopefully I will have the next chapter up by Monday... I'll try to keep from having suck long breaks between chapters. 
> 
> Hit me up on tumblr @ paigesinafull-lengthnovel with you know. Anything really.


	9. CUT TO SMUT (Kind of? Maybe? I don’t know what I’m doing anymore)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After dinner ...activities. As mentioned in the title, I really don't know what I'm doing. I hope you enjoy anyway! :)

Clarke nodded once, “I want you to.” 

That was all Lexa needed to hear, before she was half up and leaning over Clarke, one arm supporting her weight besides Clarke’s head, hair falling in a curtain to the side. “You sure?” Clarke was looking very intense, so Lexa decided it was time to try a joke, “Because once you go Lexa, you never go back. To Finn.” 

Clarke laughed, and then said, “Oh god, you promise?” Before lacing her hands behind Lexa’s head and pulling her down so their torsos were flush and Lexa’s mouth met hers in a kiss. 

It started gentle, like their first kiss, but was building up in intensity, and when Lexa’s tongue licked at Clarke’s bottom lip, she willingly opened up and met Lexa’s tongue with her own. They carried on for a bit like this, before Lexa pulled back, causing Clarke to whine, “Lexaaaa. What are you doing?”

Lexa’s eyes danced, the barest of smiles visible on her slightly swollen lips, “Getting more comfortable.” With that said, she swung her leg over Clarke to straddle her hips, shifting so they fit together nicely, and Clarke bucked a little in response.

“Ok, this is agreeable, carry on then.” 

Lexa chuckled a little at Clarke’s face, because even as she tried to sound businesslike, her pupils were blown wide and her eager expression belied her words. “As the Lady wishes.” Now that Lexa was fully on top of Clarke, Clarke had free range of Lexa’s back, and she gladly explored the expanse of flesh – at least what she could through her tank top. She followed the line of the suspenders up to her shoulders and back down, and Lexa shivered slightly. Clarke grinned against her mouth, happy to have caused the reaction, and repeated the action. Except this time, when she got to the top of her shoulders, she plucked the suspenders up and snapped them lightly against Lexa’s shoulders, and Lexa bit Clarke’s bottom lip in retaliation. “You really do like suspenders, don’t you?”

Clarke chuckled against Lexa’s lips, as she had only pulled back enough to talk but they still brushed against each other. “The only thing I like better than suspenders, is taking them off of attractive people.” She opened her eyes as she felt Lexa pull back more, and was greeted with a smirk. 

“Oh, really? Well in that case…” Lexa slid the suspenders off her shoulders, let them fall against her legs, and left them there. 

Clarke pouted, “I said I wanted to take them off. It’s no fair if you do it.”

Lexa leaned forward and bit Clarkes’ protruding lip, “Next time,” was mumbled into Clarke’s skin, and she relented with a shiver.

“Fine. But only ‘cause you’re so persuasive.” 

Lexa hummed as Clarke went back to exploring her body as they kissed, tracing patterns through the soft material of her shirt and along her bare arms. “This is really nice, but I want to touch you. Can I?”

“Lexa, you’re sitting on top of me with your tongue in my mouth, I think you’re already touching me.” 

“Hum, you’re right,” Lexa leaned down, and grabbing Clarke, rolled over so Clarke was on top, laying between Lexa’s bent legs. She smirked, “And now you’re on top of me, and I still want to touch you. Mind if I explore some?” Her hands were held up, as she waited for the go-ahead from Clarke. 

Clarke blinked, slightly surprised to have found herself with no more access to Lexa’s back, but very pleased with the notion that Lexa would have access to hers. Clarke looked at her hands and then in her eyes, before nodding slightly, “I hope you’re as good with your hands as you are firing a gun.”

Lexa lightly traced along Clarke’s arms from where they had fallen to either side of her head in the position switch, and shrugged as well as she could with Clarkes weight on her. “I would say better, but why brag when I can just show you?” With that, she moved her hands up to Clarke’s shoulders and across, meeting at the neck before pulling her down for another kiss. When Clarke complied, Lexa’s hands did indeed begin to explore, teasing Clarke like Clarke had teased Lexa. 

Lexa, however, had a plan. She started with Clarke’s shoulders, kneading softly as she made her way lower, feeling along her spine. Just before she touched the bare skin left between Clarke’s tank top and shorts, she dragged her fingers up again, hitching the shirt a little higher as well. She could have sworn Clarke grumbled at the almost-but-not-quite-there contact and she smiled into Clarke’s lips. Back at her shoulder blades, she smoothed her hands outward from her spine and flowed down Clarke’s sides, feeling her ribs as she breathed. This time, when she made it to the bottom of her shirt, she didn’t return to Clarke’s shoulders, but rather felt along her bare skin. Skimming along the waist of Clarke’s shorts, she traveled up and slowly pushed Clarke’s shirt up a fraction, before returning to her shorts and repeating the process. 

Clarke, for her part, was starting to shift on top of Lexa, a little disgruntled at her teasingly slow pace. She broke their kiss, “Lexa?” She got a hum in reply, Lexa’s eyes half closed as she looked up at the woman on top of her, not stopping her hand movements. “This slow tease is good and whatnot, but you asked to touch me, and I said you could.” She grabbed one of Lexa’s hands, “So,” She moved it to her ass, “Touch me.”

Lexa grinned, eyes almost sleep like, as she moved her other hand to join the one Clarke still had ahold of, “As you wish.” She squeezed and pulled Clarkes hips into her, as Clarkes own eyes fell half closed, “Clarke. I don’t know if you’ve been told this but,” she pulled Clarke into her again, causing some friction between their pants, “You’ve got a really,” another pull, “really, nice ass.” 

Clarke nodded as she started grinding into Lexa, moving with Lexa’s hands that felt fantastic on her ass, “It’s been mentioned, once or twice.” She leaned back down and continued kissing Lexa as they ground on each other, ceasing verbal conversation for the moment. Her hands though, were speaking their own language. Shifting her weight onto her right side, Clarke’s left hand started trailing along Lexa’s side, before crossing over her stomach and splaying her hand over Lexa’s bellybutton. She could feel Lexa’s breathing; it was nice to know that it matched Clarke’s own, and wasn’t quite regular. She then bunched her hand, pulling the fabric up and out of where they were tucked into Lexa’s shorts, exposing some skin. She continued to tug on it, and Lexa arched some to help her out, until it was to Clarke’s satisfaction, and bunched under her bra, exposing her stomach. Breaking the kiss, she leaned back on her arm, so she could see what she had uncovered. “Lexa. I don’t know if you’ve been told.” Clarke trailed her free hand over Lexa’s very toned stomach. “But, you have some spectacular abs.” 

Lexa nodded solemnly, “It’s been mentioned. Once or twice.” Clarke leaned in for another kiss, but was stopped by Lexa’s hand on her shoulder, pushing back until Clarke’s weight was on her knees, she then followed her up, so they were both sitting, pulled her tank completely off, revealing a simple black bra, then lay back down, staring at Clarke. Clarke stayed where she was, enjoying the view before her, and Lexa broke the silence, “I showed you mine, Clarke…” she raised an eyebrow, and spread her arms out, “so, are you going to reciprocate? ‘Cause if not, you should get back down here, before I get cold.” Clarke stared Lexa in the eyes as she grabbed the hem of her own shirt, and slowly peeled it up over her own head, flinging it away to hit the side of the tent. 

“We match.” Lexa was confused for a moment, as Clarke first pointed at her own bra, which was blue, to Lexa’s blue tank, then to Lexa’s black bra and finally to her own discarded black tank. Lexa started laughing, and Clarke was fascinated at what it did to her stomach muscles. She made a mental note to make Lexa laugh shirtless as often as possible. 

“Yes we do, good thing we were able to discover that. You just made my night.”

Clarke raised an eyebrow, “Really? It was the matching shirt to bras that made your night? That did it?” 

Lexa shrugged as her hands traveled up Clarke’s sides to rest on her ribs just below her bra, “I said you just made my night, I didn’t say what it was about you that did. Maybe it was that you took your shirt off.” 

Clarke tilted her head, considering. “Clever girl. Nice save with that, I’ll allow it. Although I can’t believe the art work out there” Clarke nodded her head in the direction of the painted hay bales, “didn’t do it for you.”  
“While that is a great piece of art, it doesn’t compare to the artwork I’m currently looking at.” 

Clarke smiled and started to crawl over Lexa again, “You smooth motherfucker.”

Lexa murmured, “Only for the hot ones.” As Clarke’s face hovered over hers, this elicited a bark of laugh from Clarke as dropped the last few inches, covering her mouth with hers and pressing their bodies together; hips to hips, stomach to stomach, and finally chest to chest. Lexa sighed as Clarke hummed at the warm skin on skin contact. “Fuck, Clarke, you’re driving me crazy,” she whispered as their foreheads rested together. 

Clarke moved to whisper in her ear, “Is that really a bad thing?” Before she nibbled on it, causing Lexa to shiver.

“No, it’s fantastic, actually. I haven’t been crazy in a while.” Her hands returned to Clarke’s ass and pulled her into her again, “I could get use to this.” 

“Agreed.” Clarke started to travel down Lexa’s neck, nibbling as she went. When Lexa made no move to remove her hands, or stop the grinding motion, (not that Clarke wanted it to stop), Clarke talked right into Lexa’s skin, smiling, “I’m beginning to think you’re an ass kind of gal, Lexa.”

Lexa hummed, stretching her head away from Clarke to give her better access along her neck and collar bone. “I like to think of myself as appreciative of all a woman’s body parts.”

“Well in that case, why don’t you ‘appreciate’ something else?”

Lexa chuckled, “Tired of my hands already, Miss Griffin?” 

“Not at all, in fact, I’m excited to see what they can do in other places.” 

“Places like…” Lexa’s hands traveled up Clarke’s back to find her bra strap, “Here?”

“It’s a start.” 

Lexa unclipped Clarke’s bra, slipping her straps over her shoulders, until they got stuck at Clarke’s bent elbows. She turned her head so her lips were pressed against Clarke’s temple, and whispered, “Your move” into her hair. 

Clarke pushed back, extending her arms so the straps slid down exposing her naked breasts at face level with Lexa, who was immediately fascinated and stared openly. She was so busy staring in fact, that she didn’t register (other than noting Clarke’s boobs swaying in the most tantalizing of ways) that Clarke had shifted an arm to toss away the cumbersome bra, or that Clarke had used that same hand to push her own bra up and over her smaller breasts. Well, she noticed as soon as it happened, but she didn’t see it coming. Lexa just had one goal in mind, however, as she bent her head forward to catch one of Clarke’s nipples in her mouth. Before she could, Clarke had re-lowered her body to Lexa’s, reestablishing the skin-to-skin contact, which was only slightly hindered by Lexa’s bra above her boobs. 

Clarke hummed softly, “You’re so soft, I love the way you feel against me.” She wiggled slowly, making Lexa’s breath hitch.

“I love the way I feel against you, too. In fact,” Lexa took her hands from where they were tracing along Clarkes sides just below her shoulders, and moved them down to Clarke’s waist line. “Maybe we should loose these,” Lexa’s finger tips skimmed under the waist band of her jeans, “and these” Lexa’s fingers went farther and skimmed under Clarkes underwear (which felt like lace), “and see just how great it can be?”

Before Clarke could answer, she heard Jasper calling out, pulling her attention to the tent door. “Clarke! CLARKE!” His yelling, that was getting louder as he got closer, was interrupted by a fit of giggles. “You have to check this out!”

Lexa, who also looked to the door when she heard him calling, noticed the shadows they were casting against the tent, and also recognized that Jasper was unlikely to stop outside the door to wait for them. It took all of two seconds for Lexa to realize that she did not want Jasper to walk in on them, and to come up with a plan to fix it.

“Jasper, now is REALLY not the time - Ekk!” Clarke’s scolding of Jasper was interrupted by Lexa, who had grabbed an edge of the blanket’s and rolled, effectively putting them in a burrito mere seconds before Jasper was at the zippered door. 

“Clarke, Clarke, look at this!” Jaspers fist came through the door first, holding a stick, followed by his goggled head, seemingly unaware of Clarke’s attempt to shoo him off. He waved the stick around, “Monty gave me an anti-grounder stick, and with it I can fly!” 

Lexa, wrapped up with Clarke, responded first, “Shouldn’t that be an anti-gravity stick then?” 

Jasper focused on Lexa, seeming to realize she was still there. “Oh, right…Hot date. And no, Clarke’s Hot-date, an anti-grounder stick keeps me away from the ground, and an anti-gravity stick keeps me away from gravity. Only one allows me to fly. Duh.” He stated this as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, and then asked, “What were you two doing, anyway?” 

Clarke answered first this time, “uh, star gazing. You know how I love the constellations.”

Jasper grinned, “Oh, right on!” He looked as if he was going to come join them, and both Clarke and Lexa came up with a plan on how to get rid of him. Luckily for Jasper, Clarke acted first, because Lexa’s ideas were a lot less verbal, and a lot more physical. 

“Uh, Jasper, that’s a really cool stick, but isn’t it supposed to keep you from the ground?” 

“Yea! It’s really cool and – ” 

“Jasper, hon, I think you need to take it back to Monty.”

Jaspers face turned suspicious as he instinctually pulled the stick to his chest and leaned out of the tent a bit. “But it’s mine. He gave it to me. He doesn’t get it back.”

Clarke shook her head rapidly, and would have used her arms too, but they were currently trapped against Lexa, “No no no, what I mean to say is, you’re on the ground. It’s not working and he should fix it for you.”

Jaspers face cleared up as he looked at the ground, the stick, and then back at Clarke, before a smile grew to plaster his face. “Thanks Clarke! You’re right, I’ll be right back!” And with that he had ducked out of the tent, leaving the burrito’d couple alone for a few moments. 

“Star gazing, huh?” Lexa pointedly looked at the tent ceiling, which was a solid red, and not a hint of stars could be seen. 

Clarke looked at Lexa, faces inches apart, “Well he wasn’t going to notice. Now come on,” Clarke tried rolling away out of the tangle of blankets, “We need to get our shirts back on before he returns and does notice they were on the floor and not us.”

Lexa sighed, “Fine. But let the record show I officially like Monty – the, ‘I don’t want to interrupt you’, friend – better.” She watched as Clarke huffed a laugh as she continued to struggle with her wool prison.

She gave up and looked at Lexa, “Are you just going to sit there and watch me struggle or – ”

“Yes.” Lexa cut Clarke off, and Clarke just glared back, until Lexa rolled her eyes, smiling, and pulled part of the blanket off them. “There, happy?”

Clarke rolled away, picking up her bra and tossing Lexa her shirt, “Not as happy as I was about ten minutes ago, but it’ll have to do.”

Lexa smirked, “Do you mean happy, or horny?”

Clarke shrugged as she finished clipping her bra and slipped on her shirt, “Sometimes the two are synonymous.”

“Point taken.” Lexa pulled her own shirt on, after fixing her bra, and pulled her suspenders back into place, before asking, “Do we really have to wait for him to get back, or can we just slip away and let him play with his stick alone?”

Clarke smirked at Lexa’s wording, before shaking her head, “No, let’s get out of here. Grab the suit’s and let’s make a break for it.” 

“Rodger that, General.” 

They made it out of the tent with no issues, and were even able to drop off the food basket inside the porch with no sign of Jasper and his stick. Once inside the car, Clarke looked over at Lexa, “So what did you think? Answer honestly, I think we’re on that level now.”

“Well, you’re stealth tactics need some work and you’re shit at hand signals, so I don’t know how you made it to the level of General, but we weren’t caught so I’d say the mission was a success.”

Clarke smacked Lexa’s arm, “I meant the date, smart ass.”

“Oh, right, that mission. That one was good too.”

Clarke rolled her eyes as she backed out of the long driveway, “Oh sure, you had plenty to say a minute ago, what happened to the in-depth critical Lexa who didn’t like my stealth skills?”

“She got tired and needed a break.” Lexa smiled, “Although I was sad we got interrupted before I had a chance at dessert.”

Clarke stopped the car and looked at her, before clearing her throat and getting on the road. “Yeah. A shame.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout-out to TheSpaminator, for being my beta and making sure I don't sound like an idiot. :)  
> Also, she writes the fic "The Nerd is Strong With This One" and it's some top notch stuff that you should check out.


	10. That's SO Raven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The title says it all. Enjoy. 
> 
> Courtney. Per your request.

They were not ten minutes on the road when Clarke’s phone began ringing. She looked at where it was attached to her dashboard to see Raven’s face pop up on the screen. She let it go to voice mail, only for it to start ringing again. She sighed and looked over at Lexa. “I’m sorry, look that’s Raven and she’s not going to stop calling until I pick up. You mind? Don’t worry, it’s hooked up to my blue tooth.”

Lexa nodded, “Of course, go ahead. That’ll put a stop to this obnoxious ring tone.”

Clarke gasped, “ _That’s so Raven_ was a great show and I can’t believe you just insulted the opening theme music.” 

Lexa raised a brow and looked over at her, “Weren’t you a little old to be watching that when it came out?”

Clarke just shot Lexa a glare as she reached for the answer button, “No one’s too old for Disney Channel.” As soon as she hit the button, Ravens voice came through the car speakers.

“ _Clarke, why_ the fuck _am I getting a call from Jasper asking where you and your ‘Hot Date’ went because he wanted to show you his anti-grounder stick?”_

“Well it’s probably because we snuck away from him – ”

“ _I don’t care about that! WHY IS HE MEETING YOUR HOT DATE BEFORE I AM?”_

Clarke winced and shot Lexa an ‘I told you so look’, before trying to plead with Raven, “It’s not like you didn’t know where we were going, you even told me it was an awesome date idea, Rae.” 

“ _Ok, but you neglected to mention that Jasper would be there. You know the best friend rules.”_

“Please refrain from making any death threats – ”

“ _Nope, Jasper’s a dead man. I can’t re- affirm my status any other way.”_

“ – because there’s a Trooper in the car.” Clarke finished sounding defeated, sending another apologetic look towards Lexa, who just smirked back.

There was a moment of silence as Raven absorbed the words, and when she started talking, they could tell she was smiling over the phone. _“Wait, so she can hear everything we’re saying right now?”_

Lexa answered before Clarke could, “Yes, I can.” 

_“Damn Clarkey, she even sounds sexy.”_ Clarke wanted to bang her head against the steering wheel, as Lexa looked at her and raised a brow mouthing ‘Clarkey?’, but refrained and, ignoring Lexa, just tightened her grip on the wheel.

“Was there something you needed, Raven?”

_“Yes. I needed to know why Jasper had seen Ms. Trooper before me. Now, I need to know how the date went. Is going. Is it over yet or is it not over till you kiss goodnight or something?”_

Lexa’s mouth twitched in an attempt to hide her amusement, and Clarke groaned, “Raven. Not now. Need I remind you that we are _both_ in the car and if you want to talk about my date we can do it later, in private?” 

_“Why, is there something you need to hide from Lexa? Is she a bad kisser? Did she shoot Jasper with a paintball? ‘Cause that would be fantastic…”_

“No, Raven, nothing of the sort.”

Lexa cut in again with a snort, “No, but I felt like it by the end there.” 

Raven gasped over the phone _“No… you didn’t. Clarke. Did sexy times ensue? Chitty chitty bang bang orgasm?”_

Clarke could feel the blush starting in her cheeks, and yelled “No!” Just as Lexa started laughing. 

_“Well it certainly doesn’t_ sound _like_ nothing _happened!”_ The mirth was back in Raven’s voice, _“There’s a story here, I can tell. I’m wiping away a fake tear as we speak, I’m so proud of you. You finally listened to me, that the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else!”_

Clarke’s blush had taken control of her face, and Lexa decided she wanted to keep her flustered. “What if she wasn’t the one on the bottom, though? Does that still count?” She said this while looking at Clarke, and when she got a glare she just gave her a cheeky smile back.

“Don’t encourage her!” Clarke slapped Lexa’s arm as Raven started laughing.

By the time Raven had gotten control, so had Clarke, and she was more poised. Lexa had taken on the picture of comfort, as she laced her fingers behind her head and reclined her seat back a fraction.

 _“Clarke, Clarke,”_ She gasped out between breaths, _“I know it’s early, but I like this girl. Keep her long enough so we can at least meet face to face, will ya? I think we’re going to get along just fine.”_

Lexa hummed, “Yes, that would be interesting.” She sent a side glance at Clarke, “And I wouldn’t mind sticking around for a bit, either.”

Clarke sent her a half smile as she inclined her head, “Yeah, you’re not so bad that you can’t stick around.”

 _“Alright, that’s settled then. Next Wednesday at your house, Clarke, we’re having dinner and I get to have a chat with Lexa. Toodaloo!”_

“Wait what?” But Raven was already gone and Clarke just sent Lexa a stricken look. “I think Raven just set us up our next date.” 

Lexa just laughed, “Well, I am free Wednesday evening. Although, it hardly seems fair that you have to make dinner twice in a row.” Clarke looked sheepish and didn’t say anything, causing Lexa to pry. “What is it? Why are you looking like that?” She still didn’t get an answer and Clarke was doing her best to not look at Lexa. “Clarke?”

With a sigh Clarke gave in, “Ok, I have a _tiny_ confession.” She sent a side glance at Lexa, who crossed her arms and raised a brow, before continuing, “I may or may _not_ have cooked our meal tonight.” 

Lexa dropped her arms, “Excuse me?” 

Clarke grimaced, “It’s just that Monty’s really good at cooking and I didn’t have time to run out there and cook and then run back and pick you up then turn around and run back before the sunset and I wanted to impress you and” she chanced another look at Lexa, who was faintly smiling as Clarke talked, “and, and how long were you going to let me keep rambling?”

Lexa shrugged, “I’ve told you I think it’s cute when you’re flustered. Besides, I already knew you hadn’t cooked. I was just wondering if you would admit it or not.”

Clarke was silent a moment, wondering what could have given it away, “But in the tent you said –”

“I know what I said. I was seeing if you’d admit it then. I came to much the same conclusion that you just told me – you clearly didn’t have the time to cook.” Clarke had an incredulous expression on, so Lexa continued, “You know I’m a Trooper, and that wasn’t a very straining mystery.”

Clarke snorted, “Good to know that I need to up my game if I’m to surprise you in the future.”

“Oh yes, you’ll have to work much harder.” 

~

It wasn’t much longer before Clarke was pulling up to a stop outside her building, and cut the ignition. “Well this isn’t the library. Where are we?” Lexa looked at Clarke, who just gave her a coy grin. 

“That is because we are not at the library, Miss Observant. We are at my apartment complex. Surprise.”

Lexa looked at Clarke, slightly bemused expression, “Alright, you got me. Why are we at your place?”

“Well, I figured you would like to know where I lived if you’re coming over Wednesday.”

Lexa nodded, “Ok, that makes sense.”

Clarke reached for her door handle and hopped out, “Plus, I need to pee. Come on, I’ll show you inside.” 

They walked inside the apartment complex, Lexa following Clarke, before stopping outside apartment 100. “So, was this some clever ploy to get me into your apartment after we were interrupted by Jasper?” Clarke turned from where she was putting her key in the door and raised an eyebrow at Lexa, as she continued, “Because I would be totally o.k. with that.”

Clarke snorted, “There you go with your ego again. It really will get you into trouble one of these days.” 

Lexa took a step closer, backing Clarke completely into the door, and rested her hands on either side of Clarke’s head. She stared at Clarke a moment, then leaned in, eyes glancing at her lips. “And what are you going to do about it?” Lexa asks in barley a whisper. Clarke doesn’t think, barley has time to register that as a challenge, because it was certainly a challenge, before she braces her hands on Lexa’s shoulders and pushes up against her, the only word to leave her mouth was “This” before her lips were pressed against Lexa’s, each searching for control over the others tongue. They were no longer soft and testing, instead, aggressively pushing into each other. Lexa reached for the door handle, intent on letting them into Clarke’s apartment, but before she could, there was a sound from the other side of the door, causing Lexa to freeze and pull back from Clarke, “Did you hear that?” 

Clarke took a moment before opening her eyes, “Hear what?” 

She slowly nudged Clarke away from the door, “Something inside your apartment.” Clarke watched as Lexa went full Trooper mode, even reaching for her hip before remembering she wasn’t in uniform or carrying a weapon. “Were you expecting anyone? Have any pets?”

“Umm no, no pets allowed in the Ark, and who would I be expecting? I’m on a date.”

“Well then – ” Lexa was interrupted again as the door was flung open, and instinctively pushed Clarke behind her as she crouched, glaring at the dark haired woman who was smiling cheekily at them. “Who are you and what are you doing in Clarke’s apartment?” Lexa felt Clarke reach up to look over her shoulder before she sighed and let her head fall against Lexa’s back. Lexa turned her head slightly, not taking her eyes off the woman in front of them, as she was slowly giving Lexa the once over. “Do you know this woman?” 

Clarke, not removing her head from where it rested, gestured around her, “Lexa, meet Raven, my piece of shit best friend who _apparently_ knows where my spare key is.” Lexa straightened, and smoothed her face out as she eyed Raven back, keeping her expression blank. Clarke was the one now glaring as she stepped around Lexa, “Why are you here, Raven? This is the second time in a week you’ve been here unannounced. And unlike last time, I’m not as thrilled to see you.” 

Raven pouted, “Now Clarkey, is that anyway to greet you best friend? Besides, you said we could talk later. Well, it’s _later_ , and you know how I prefer talking in person.” She glanced between the two women standing in the hall, Clarke clearly grumpy and Lexa remaining unreadable, as a sly grin began to form, “uh-oh, did I interrupt something?”

Clarke snorted and pushed past Raven, “Let’s just say that you’re worse than Jasper, because at least we knew he was around.” 

Raven looked affronted, “How dare you compare me to Jasper. What’s that even mean?” But Clarke was already halfway through the apartment, and not answering, so Raven turned to Lexa, “Well?”

Lexa just hitched a brow slightly, “Ouch. I may be new here, but I know that’s not a compliment.” She too moved passed Raven, leaving her flabbergasted in the doorway. 

“What the fuck Griffin!” Raven moved in and shut the door, “Even Lexa the new chick new that was an insult. What’s got your panties in a bunch?” She didn’t get an answer, and once again turned to Lexa. “You must not be a very good lay if she still has all this tension stored up still.”

Lexa lips twitched up fractionally as she crossed her arms and leaned against the kitchen counter, just staring back at Raven as Clarke yelled a warning from where Lexa thought the bathroom must be, “Raven! Not appropriate!” 

Raven shot a glare in Clarke’s direction, as she mumbled, “Sure she can hear _that_ ” Under her breath before turning back to Lexa. “So. Here we are.”

Lexa tilted her head to the right, “Here we are. Sooner than expected, might I add.” She gave Raven a pointed look, but she just shrugged.

“You say ‘sooner than expected’ I say ‘fate’.” She sent a glance back towards the direction Clarke had gone, and lowered her voice. “But now that I’ve got you here, I’m obligated to give you ‘the talk’ on behalf of Clarke.”

Lexa’s face stayed impassive, but there was a hint of amusement in her voice as she replied, “Is this the ‘don’t touch my best friend or I’ll kill you’ speech?” 

Raven snorted, “God no, did you just see her? Please, please touch her. Rock her world. This is the, ‘If you hurt her in anyway without her consent I’ll have to think of creative and inventive ways to get back at you without her knowing’ speech, and neither of us want that. Trust me. I’m like, crazy smart.”

Lexa just stared at Raven for a moment, before saying “Without her consent?”

Raven shrugged, “Hey, I don’t know what kind of kinky shit she’s into, so I like to leave some leeway for everyone involved.” 

Lexa inclined her head, “How considerate of you.” She thought a moment, “So, do you mind if I ask, have you somehow exacted your revenge of Finn yet?” 

Raven’s grin turned wicked, “Oh yes. Now, I don’t want to get into specifics, but let’s just say it involved some water proofed itching powder and his laundry detergent.”

It was at that moment that Clarke returned, to Lexa starting at Raven with an appreciative face and raised brows, as Raven smirked back. “Ok, what did I miss?” Her gaze flickered between the two of them, as Raven quickly turned.

“Nothing!” She started toward the living room. “We were just talking about kinks, and apparently I knew of a few that Lexa hadn’t.” She sent Lexa a warning look behind Clarke’s back, before taking a seat on the couch. 

Clarke looked at Lexa with squinted eyes, “Is this true?” 

Lexa kept her face blank as she replied, “Yes. Apparently a creampie isn’t a type of pastry.” 

Clarke hung her head in defeat, “Ok, let’s go. I need to drop you off before I can deal with _that_ one,” she tossed her hand over her shoulder, and pointed at Raven, “And you don’t move, missy. We’re going to have a chat when I get back.” 

Raven just smirked as she sent a wink to the two retreating figures, “Looking forward to it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to TheSpaminator for being my beta. :) Again - if you haven't read her work, "The Nerd Is Strong With This One", You shoulddddd. Do it do it do it!


	11. Operation 'Meet and Greet' (Do you guys even read these chapter titles?)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clexa fluff and Raven has a plan.

Back in the car, Clarke turned back to Lexa, “Ok, for real. I know Raven likes to talk kink, but what did she actually say to you?” 

Lexa shrugged, “The normal best friend speech. Typical stuff, really.”

“Typical stuff.” Clarke repeated in a flat voice. “Typical like how.”

“Typical in that I was told not to hurt you in any way,” she paused and raised an eyebrow, “Without your consent. You’re right, she does seem to like kink.” 

Clarke sighed and started the car, “Ok, that’s not too bad I suppose. But I really need to have a conversation with that girl about boundaries.”

“Nah, I think it’s cute, protective friends and all. And trust me, you’ll get much the same, if not worse, if you meet Bellamy. Not to mention my sister. That’s a whole ‘nother ball game.”

Clarke raised her brows, “Duly noted.”

They rode in comfortable silence until they reached the library, and Clarke turned her car off. She turned back to Lexa, “So, you’ve already met Raven, you don’t really have to come to dinner Wednesday if you’re busy.”

“What, and let you get away with not cooking again? No way, I need to see what you can do in the kitchen.” 

Clarke snorted, “I can to lots in the kitchen. Just don’t ask me to make food.” 

Lexa in turn gave Clarke an appraising look, “Well well, maybe Raven was right.” She reached out and tapped Clarke’s forehead, “What kind of kinky stuff do you have locked up in there?”

Clarke stuck her tongue out, “Wouldn’t you like to know.” Lexa nodded her head decisively, as Clarke continued, “And if you think having sex in the kitchen is kinky, boy are you in for a surprise. You should type ‘kinky’ and ‘fetishes’ into a search engine and see what pops up.” 

Lexa let out a laugh, “Yea, right! I can imagine all the viruses now.” 

Clarke smirked, “I said google ‘kinky’ not ‘watch some kinky porn’. One is much safer for your computer, if not less scaring. Just don’t look at the images.” 

Lexa nodded, “The difference has been explained and noted. Now, back to the original topic, yes, I would love to have dinner at your house Wednesday.” She gave Clarke a contemplative look, “However…” 

When she didn’t immediately continue, Clarke nodded her head, encouraging her to continue, “However what?”

“Well, I’ve meet three of your friends now, and even your ex.” 

Clarke winced, “Yea don’t remind me. I am real sorry about that. All those, actually.” 

“Sorry enough to make it even?”

Clarke gave her a side eyed look, “What do you mean?”

“Well, I’ve meet three of yours, so you meet three of mine.” Lexa smirked, “Don’t worry, I won’t bring an ex.” 

Clarke was slowly nodding, “and let me guess, you think Wednesday at my apartment would be a good place for this?”

“Yes, exactly so. We can make it more of a party setting. And feel free to invite Jasper and Monty, or anyone else you want. Raven doesn’t have to be your only friend-support.” 

“Ok, so say I invite Jasper, Monty, and Raven. Who are you planning on inviting?”

“Bellamy, Octavia, and Anya.”

“So… two of those people you said would give me a hard time. How is that fair? Raven’s the only one to have given you a hard time, and that was barley anything, I don’t see how one equals the other.”

Lexa smirked, “I’ll tell them to be on their best behavior, and also, I’m hoping a crowd will temper their protectiveness.” 

Clarke rolled her eyes, “‘Hoping’ doesn’t exactly inspire confidence, Lexa.”

“So is that a yes or a no to this little party Wednesday?” 

Clarke pursed her lips, “It’s a yes.” Lexa grinned, “Besides, I have to see this hotter older sister.” 

Lexa leaned in, “I told you, no one is hotter than me.” Her eyes traveled over Clarke as she sat in the driver’s seat, “Although recent events have made me reconsider this mindset.” 

Clarke matched Lexa’s posture, leaning in as she said, “As they should.” They were hovering, lips inches apart, when Clarke whispered, “Just to be clear, I’m the recent event, right?” 

Lexa smiled, never taking her eyes off Clarke’s mouth. “Yes.”

Clarke smiled back, saying “Good” before closing the gap and gently pushing her lips against Lexa’s. They carried on like this for a moment, before Lexa pulled away and rested her forehead against Clarke’s.

“As much as I would like to stay here all night, Raven’s waiting for you, and I have my own friends to deal with. Not to mention, a party to get ready for.” 

Clarke was torn between pouting and snorting, and ended up doing both, making Lexa chuckle, “Fuck our friends, let’s just stay here. And what do you mean ‘a party to get ready for’; I’m the host, that’s my job.”

Lexa smiled softly, “I’ll bring chips.” 

Clarke smiled ruefully, “Helpful. But I suppose you have a point.” She leaned back and slumped against her seat, closing her eyes. “Fine, fine, you leave now and bring chips later. Now get out of my car before you tempt me to kidnap a government official.”

Lexa smiled, still leaning over between the seats, “See? Kinky.” She leaned back when Clarke cracked a smile and looked at her out of her right eye. “Ok, operation ‘meet and greet’ is officially a go.” She rubbed her hands together, “Don’t worry, I think it’ll go splendidly. Raven and Octavia will probably hit it off great.” Lexa paused and frowned, “Which, on second thought, might not be such a good thing for the general population.” 

Clarke chuckled and pushed Lexa’s arm, “Ok, now get out of my car! Shoo!” Lexa raised her hands in surrender, and got out of the car, only to walk away from her own, circle around back to the driver’s side, and knock on Clarke’s window, much like the first time they had met. Clarke suppressed a smile as she rolled the window down, “Yes, Trooper? Did you forget something?”

Lexa leaned down, right hand braced on the top of the car, “Just this.” With her left hand she pulled Clarke’s face up for a kiss, sending shivers through Clarke. When she pulled away, she had a satisfied smirk on her face, “That was the good night kiss. You can now tell Raven the date officially ended.” With that she left Clarke, walking to her car, before sliding in and sending a wink in Clarke’s direction. There was a pause when she got in her car, and a moment later Clarke’s phone lit up, announcing a text from ‘Commander Hot Pants’, she smiled as she opened the app, and read ‘See you Wednesday ;)’. She looked back up to see Lexa driving away.

~

By the time Clarke got back, she was ready to face Raven again. She heaved a sigh as she pushed open her door, to see that Raven was in the same spot on the couch. Except now, she was sporting a bowl full of popcorn and happily munching away. Clarke eyed her friend as she shut the door. “Glad to see you’ve been stewing in your guilt for interrupting my date.” 

“Stewing? When have you known me to stew?” Raven thought for a moment, “Besides in the kitchen, then I make a mean stew. But why should I feel guilty? I got an eyeful of your very hot date, and now feel less tempted to strike Jasper down.” She spread her hands out, “I’m guilt free.” She finished by tossing a piece of popcorn up and catching it in her mouth, before shooting Clarke a smug smile.

Clarke shook her head as she made her way over and plopped down besides Raven. “Listen Raven, you may be guilt free, but we still need to talk about boundaries.” Raven scoffed, “I’m serious. I know I said my apartment was always open to you, and it always will be, but could you at least give me a heads up text? Like damn.” Raven watched as Clarke rubbed her face with her hands before she continued, “I mean, on top of interrupting us, you scared the shit out of me and made Lexa go all ‘protective mode’ on me.” 

Raven raised a brow, “Yea, but you have to admit, that was kind of hot.” 

Clarke shot her a look, “Yea, to bad I couldn’t do anything about it because _someone was in my apartment_.” 

Raven raised her hands in surrender, “Ok, ok, fine, I’ll hence fourth text you when I’m going to be showing up when you’re out. Fair?” Clarke nodded so Raven went on, “Now, tell me all about your date up until the point you got here.” 

~

By the end of Clarke’s story, Raven had to admit, at least to herself, that she felt a tiny bit guilty. It was no surprise Clarke was cranky – they had been interrupted twice, and the second time Clarke was clearly much more confident they wouldn’t be interrupted – until they were. 

Raven stroked Clarke’s hair, as her head was fallen back on the couch, “Aww Clarkey, it sounds like you had fun despite the interruptions, so there’s that.”

Clarke sighed, smiling faintly, “Yea, it was really fun. I’m happy it worked out the way it did.” She side eyed Raven, “Well, mostly.” 

Raven ignored the look, and kept stroking her hair. “So. Lexa has abs, huh?” 

Clarke dragged her hands down her face, pulling her eyelids down as she looked at Raven, “Oh my god, such abs, Raven. Like, you have no idea.” Raven started grinning slyly, and Clarke dropped her hands, giving her a suspicious look. “Raven. I know that look. What are you planning.” 

Raven twirled her fingers around Clarke’s head, “Oh, I don’t know, just thinking of a possible way to both get what we want.” 

Clarke’s suspicious glare didn’t waver, “What do you mean ‘what we both want’, how do you know what I want, and more importantly, what do you want?” 

“Well, it’s simple really, I know that my best friend,” she tapped Clarke’s head, “That’s you dear, has a weakness for abs and would like another up close and personal look at them. I, however, would just like a look at them. And baring a pool bikini party, as you know how well my brace doesn’t like water, that leaves one thing.” She looked at Clarke expectantly, until her eyes went wide in understanding.

“No. absolutely not. You can’t be serious.”

“Oh, I’m serious.” Clarke was shaking her head but Raven jumped up from the couch and pumped her arms in the air, “Body shoots!” 

Clarke groaned again, but couldn’t help but laugh a little at her friends ‘body shot dance’, “But on a Wednesday? Really? People work Thursday you know.” 

Raven didn’t seem to hear her as she jumped around, but Clarke knew the bigger possibility was that she was just being ignored. Clarke resigned herself to hating everything Thursday, and texted Lexa the slight change of plans. 

**To Commander Hot Pants:** Hey, I hope you got home safe! :) Just letting you know – and feel free to shoot this idea down – that Raven got a hold of the plans for Wednesday and seems set on making it a full blown party. Is that ok?

Clarke didn’t have to wait long before she got a response,

 **From Commander Hot Pants:** is this your way of getting out of cooking?

Clarke smiled, but before she could respond, Lexa sent another text,

 **From Commander Hot Pants:** I’m as safe as something that’s really safe, thanks for asking. :) And that’s fine, O and Bell are already down, and alcohol will only help at this point.

 **From Commander Hot Pants:** does this mean I still have to bring chips?

 **To Commander Hot Pants:** Wonderful! And yes you still have to bring chips.

 **To Commander Hot Pants:** In fact bring two bags, as I will no longer be cooking dinner ;)

**To Commander Hot Pants: **and bring whoever else you want to bring, friend wise.****

**To Commander Hot Pants:** Just don’t bring a date

 **From Commander Hot Pants:** whatever you say, Ms. Grif-FINE.

Clarke chuckled as she closed her message app, tuning back in Raven as she excitedly explained her ideas for the party. Clarke only half listened, amused that Raven was already so involved. At this point, all Clarke might have to do is show up to her own party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to TheSpaminator, who keeps beta'ing my work ^.^   
> I've said it before, and I'll say it again - you should read their fic, The Nerd Is Strong With This One, if you haven't yet.


	12. Operation 'Meet and Greet' is a go.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And so the party begins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soorrryyy for such a long wait. Here, take this *shoves new chapter in your direction* 
> 
> sorry for any mistakes, this ones mostly unedited cuse I wanted to get it up while I could.

Lexa arrived outside Clarke’s door at 8:30 with Bellamy and Octavia, in her arms two bags of chips for the host. She knocked only to find the door unlocked, and when it swung open she stepped in, followed closely by Bellamy.

“Hey! Hot Date, you made it!” Lexa turned to see Jasper jogging over to them; arms spread as if he was going in for a hug, and she shuddered slightly. She didn’t have to worry, though, as Bellamy stopped Jasper with an arm to his chest, glaring at Jasper as he emitted an ‘oof’ noise.

“And who are you?” Bellamy didn’t drop his glare as Jasper gave him a lopsided smile. 

“Chill dude, I’m a friend of Clarke’s, and we” he gestured between himself and Lexa, “Have already met.” He leaned around Bellamy’s arm to talk to Lexa, who just raised a brow, “Remember? I have the magic stick.” With that, Bellamy shoved him off with a look of disgust, before turning to Lexa.

“Why did you bring me here again?” He glared at Jasper who was still lurking, until he raised his hands and backed away, “I can already feel my blood pressure rising and we just got here.” 

Lexa bumped his shoulder with her own, “Relax. You haven’t even met Clarke yet. And you’re here, because I’ve met some of Clarke’s friends and it’s an act of solidarity if I show her mine are bat-shit crazy too.” 

“Hey! Who’s bat-shit crazy?” Octavia jumped in, throwing an arm around both Lexa’s and Bellamy’s shoulder. 

“You.” Bellamy said with an affectionate twist of his mouth. 

Octavia clucked her tongue, “I know that. I meant on _her_ side.” She nodded her head at the blonde that was coming over, broad smile on her face as she made her way to the three still by the doorway. “That is Clarke, right? I mean she’s the only blonde here, and unless you lied, Lexa, that’s got to be her.”

“You are correct, that’s Clarke,” Lexa said, not taking her eyes from the woman in question. “And you should introduce yourself to Raven; she’s your kind of bat shit crazy.” 

“Sounds good to me.” Octavia looked around as Bellamy crossed his arms and put on his most intimidating glare towards the woman who was now only a few feet away, “So, which one is Raven?” 

“Raven’s the one in the red jump suit bragging about how smart she is. Hard to miss.” Clarke smiled at Octavia, and stretched out her hand, “And you must be Octavia.” 

Octavia smiled in response and shook her hand, “That’s right,” She turned to Lexa, “I’m assuming she knows who I am from the embarrassing amount of pictures you have of me on your phone.” 

Lexa sighed, “You mean the ones you put there every time I leave my phone unguarded? No, she didn’t know you from those.”

Clarke chuckled, looking at Lexa, “You’re totally right, she and Rae will get along great. I fear for the state of my home.” Lexa’s lips twitched at the corners, and Clarke looked back to Octavia, “I’m just a really good guesser.” She pointed towards the living room, “you’ll find trouble that way.” 

Octavia removed her remaining arm from Lexa’s shoulder, before giving Clarke a cheery “thanks!” and skipping off, leaving Bellamy alone with Clarke and Lexa. He shifted so he was standing in front of Lexa a bit, and puffed out his chest, arms still folded. 

“So you’re Clarke.”

Clarke shifted her stance to face Bellamy head on, and glared back, “So you’re Bellamy.” 

He snorted, “And what gave that away, Princess?” Behind him, Clarke could just make out Lexa in her peripherals, standing with her elbow in one hand, along with bags of chips, as the other rubbed the space between her eyes. 

“Well, you’re protective stance and judgmental glares are pretty good indicators.” 

“Just know that I have the resources to make your life a living hell if you harm her.” 

“Bellamy.” Lexa’s warning was low and clear; neither Clarke nor Bellamy backed down. 

Instead, Clarke took a step closer, crossed her own arms, and squinted up at the man that was a good half a foot taller. “Your intimidating glare may work on most people, Bellamy, but I’ve lived through the death of my father, the death of my childhood best friend, my current best friend getting in a car accident that ruined her Soccer carrier, not to mention my grandmother being the divorced wife of a mafia member and having to stay in witness protection for her own safety. And that’s the shit that has just happened to the people around me. So understand me when I say this: You. Don’t. Scare. Me.” 

Bellamy’s glare wavered a bit, before he huffed out and let his arms fall. He turned to Lexa, “I’m still doing a background check.” He sent a last glance at Clarke, who smiled sweetly – challengingly – , before he turned and left the couple be. 

“See, that wasn’t so bad. You handled yourself very well.” Lexa smirked at Clarke. 

“Mmm, didn’t you say your sister would be worse, though?” 

“Eh, depends on what you consider to be ‘worse’. She and Bellamy have completely different intimidation approaches.” 

“Fantastic.”

“So, was all that true?”

“Mostly. But he doesn’t have to know that.”

Lexa stepped closer, “Which part wasn’t?” 

Clarke eyed Lexa, “The part about my grandma.”

“Damn, I was kind of hoping that the mafia thing was true.”

“She was never divorced.” Lexa regarded Clarke, not sure if she was joking or not. Before she could decide, Clarke cut her off, “So, where is the infamous sister?”

“She’ll get here later, she has to finish up with a client first.”

“Client?” Clarke asked, slightly confused.

“She does personal training and teaches a few different martial arts, so her work schedule is kind of dependent on her clients.”

Clarke stared at Lexa, slightly worried about knowing her sister was very well trained in bodily harm, but shook it off and grabbed Lexa’s hand, pulling her into the crowd, “Come on, let’s mingle.” 

~

They dropped off the chips Lexa brought in the kitchen, as Clarke pointed out various people in her apartment – Lexa was impressed; it wasn’t too bad a crowd for a Wednesday night. 

“You’ve meet Jasper and Monty,” Lexa nodded as Clarke pointed out the two hunched over a Gameboy in the corner, seemingly arguing with a dark haired girl about something on the screen. “And the girl with them is one of my co-workers, Mya.” She nodded her head towards the couch, where Bellamy was chatting with a dirty blond woman, “Over there with Bellamy is Echo, she played soccer with Raven. Pretty good too, the best after Raven’s accident.” Lexa nodded along, trying to remember the names to match the faces. “On the other side of the couch bent over the sketch pad, is Lincoln – we meet in college and geeked out over art together – we’ve stayed in touch ever since.” Lexa took in the muscular man with a dark complexion and shaved head, and the profession of ‘artist’ didn’t click for her, even as he seemed to be drawing at the moment. She said as much. 

“He doesn’t look like the artsy type to me.” 

Clarke grinned at Lexa, “Yea, not many people think so. That’s part of the reason he likes to carry around his sketch pad, throws people off.” 

“Does he always draw during parties?” 

Clarke shrugged, “No, not always. But as he says, he likes to, ‘capture the moment’. He’ll probably stay there observing and sketching the people around him, until something draws him away.” Clarke smirked at her own joke, and Lexa just shook her head, not taking her eyes off Lincoln as he looks around, stops, stares, flips the page in his book, and stares again, before putting his pencil to work. 

“You’re such a dork.” Her eyes followed the direction Lincolns eyes had gone, and found Octavia and Raven already laughing over something. She raised her brows as Lincoln was clearly looking between O and the paper, but decided not to comment on it. Instead, she nodded her head towards Raven, “So. Red jump suit?” 

Clarke turned so her back was to the girls and faced Lexa, “Oh, Raven just got accepted into this fancy engineering program and won’t shut up about it. Something about ‘being the youngest in fifty-two years’. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m proud as shit of her, but that girl won’t give me a moment to forget it.” 

“Damn right! Remember that time you got that art piece accepted into that fancy gallery? I didn’t shut up then, either.” 

Clarke rolled her eyes at Lexa, with her back still to Raven, before turning with a bright smile to find Raven standing there with Octavia’s arm slung across her shoulder. “Yes darling, but the difference there was that I wasn’t the one bragging about my own accomplishment.” 

Raven just shrugged, “Eh, potato, tomato.” She turned to Lexa, “And you. You I need to thank.” Lexa raised an eyebrow, and waited for her to continue. “This whole thing was your idea, and without that it may have been a lot longer before O-licious here,” she gestured at O with her hand, “and I met.” She winked at Lexa as they turned to walk away, still attached at the shoulder. 

Lexa just stared after them. “What. Have I done.”

Clarke nodded her head as she stood next to Lexa, looking after the two women. “Something that can’t be undone, that’s for sure.”

~

It was only a half hour later that the women were proved right, when Octavia and Raven cleared off the table in the living room, stood on top of it, and yelled “Shots! Shots! Shots! Everybody! Time for shots!”

Lexa looked at Clarke, who looked a mix between happy and dreadful, in confusion – “Weren’t shots available before this?” 

Clarke side eyed Lexa, “Oh, they were. But they’re talking about _body_ shots.”

Lexa raised her brows and looked back to the table, where O was already leaning down in preparation of the first shot Raven was going to take off her. She had a brief conversation with Raven, pointing to her collarbone before lying completely back, pulling a side of her tank top over her shoulder, and putting a lime in her mouth. Raven then sprinkled a line of salt along O’s exposed chest, before looking around and smirking at the crowd. She locked eyes with Clarke briefly, before moving on and noticing Lincoln watching intently, sketch pad held loosely in his hands. She winked at him as she reached back for her shot, Monty having already poured it, and leaned down to whisper something in O’s ear, which made her smile around the lime and nod. With that, Raven climbed on O, straddled her hips, threw back the shot, and leaned down to clean the salt off of O’s chest. The crowed started cheering and clapping at that, and Lexa shot a glance at Clarke, who was just shaking her head and smiling at her friend. 

Lexa looked back as Raven gently took the lime from Octavia’s mouth, then threw up her arms in victory as she grinned around the fruit. “So, are body shots a common thing around here?”

She glanced back at Clarke, who just shrugged, “Give Raven enough alcohol, and she’ll always find a way to bring body shots into the picture. Why?” Clarke looked at Lexa, slightly concerned, “Are you not a fan of body shots?”

Lexa shrugged in return, “Eh, it’s not that, I’ve just never actually done one.”

Clarke’s eyes went wide as she looked at Lexa, “Oh no.” She glanced back to the table, where the girls where standing up and laughing as they took bows, “listen,” she looked back at Lexa with earnest eyes, “do NOT tell Raven that bit of information, or she will feel obligated to take your body shot virginity.” 

Lexa raised an eyebrow, “Why’s that a bad thing? I could be up for that – body shots seem interesting.” 

Clarke took a step closer, and lowered her voice, “It’s a bad thing, Lexa, because _I_ want to take it.” 

Lexa looked at Clarke, about to agree with her, when Raven popped up, lime still in her mouth, “whatcha guys talkin about?” 

Clarke spared her a glance, “the statistical probability of us being interrupted by my friends every time we have a moment.” 

Lexa hid her smirk and nodded, “The probability we found was very high.”

Raven just scoffed, “Whatever,” she grabbed Clarke’s hand, “Come on, traditions calling.”

Lexa looked confused as she followed after Clarke, who was being dragged towards the table by Raven, “What’s this about tradition?”

Clarke looked over her shoulder and just winked, “Watch and learn, you’ll figure it out.” 

Lexa stopped in the ring closest to the table, and O appeared next to her and slung an arm around her shoulders again, “So, enjoying the party so far, Lex?” 

Lexa spared her a glance and an amused smirk, “Not as much as you seem to be.” Her eyes flickered to her collar to a few grains of salt Raven had missed, she reached up and flicked them off, “Having some fun with Raven, I see.”

O smiled, “Oh, absolutely. That girls my kind of bat-shit crazy, you were right about that.” Her smile turned a little coy, “And don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll be having just as much fun as me soon enough.” 

Before Lexa could question what that was supposed to mean, her attention was caught by Raven, who was once again standing on the table, “Ladies and gents! Those of you who have partied before with Clarke and I, you know what’s coming!” Most of their friends cheered as Raven smiled and nodded her head, “For those of you who are new here,” she looked pointedly at Lexa, before winking at O, “Well, you’re in for a treat!”

“What is she talking about?” Lexa asked O, without taking her eyes off Clarke, who was staring back and smirking.

She didn’t have to see the smirk on O’s face to know she was wearing one, even as she feigned ignorance, “How am I going to know, I’m as new here as you.” 

Lexa didn’t bother replying, knowing she wouldn’t get a truthful answer and that she would find out soon enough what was about to happen. 

And the _first_ thing she noticed, was that Clarke was beginning to unbutton her pale blue button up. The second thing she noticed, was that the table was moved by someone (possibly Jasper? Lexa wasn’t sure. She was a little distracted by someone taking her shirt off while maintaining eye contact), and two small stools were brought out instead. Curiosity getting the better of her, she broke eye contact with Clarke, and focused on her surroundings, trying to figure out what was going to happen. All she had to go on so far, was that Clarke was shirtless (and very distracting standing there in her bra), Raven seemed to be swinging her arms back and forth in some sort of stretch, and there were stools where the table was. Lexa had no clue as to what was about to happen, but she could tell by the absolute glee radiating from Octavia besides her, that Octavia did. Which annoyed Lexa to no end. 

“Alright, let’s get this party started!” Raven clapped her hands and jumped up onto one of the stools, as Clarke grabbed a lime wedge and laid on the floor between the stools.

“The party was already started, Rae.” Clarke grinned up at her friend as she popped the lime into her mouth.

Raven just shrugged, “Eh, you’re right, I’ve been here for a while.” She winked at the crowd as they laughed and Clarke just rolled her eyes. “Echo! Come spot me, I don’t trust that Jasper didn’t somehow fuck up these stools.” 

Jasper let out an indignant ‘hey!’ as Raven just stuck her tongue out at him and Echo stepped up to the stools in preparation. Clearly, Raven still wasn’t over Jasper meeting Lexa first. But that was still the only thing that Lexa could take from this situation, as nothing else had become clear. And then Raven put a hand on each stool, and kicked her legs out into a hand stand – which Echo was quick to catch before Raven did a total flip and landed on Clarke. What the fuck? Lexa had never seen anything like this – never even _heard_ of something like this. 

Lexa watched as Clarke made a line of salt up her stomach, and then place her arms over her head, and push off the floor, slowly raising toward Raven in some sort yoga/crab stretch. Raven, for her part, lowered herself down to meet Clarke as she came up, doing an inverted pushup. The crowd was hooting and cheering Raven on, and even Lexa was impressed – she knew the difficulties of an inverted pushup, and she had never tried to do one with alcohol in her system, as Raven was doing. Once Raven’s tongue found the salt line, Clarke slowly crawled forward, giving Raven access to the line that went up towards her chest and head. When the salt line had run out, Clarke relaxed her back down, and Raven pushed back up and locked her arms, legs still held in place by Echo. 

Monty scurried over with a shot glass, put it onto Clarke’s stomach, filled it, and then backed up into the crowd again. Once the alcohol was in place, Clarke slowly raised back up, keeping her stomach as firm as possible to not spill the drink. Lexa had to admit, this was becoming quite the scene. When Clarke reached her full height, hands and feet still planted firmly on the ground, Raven did another inverted pushup, somehow taking the shot into her mouth and drinking it upside down, before putting the empty shot glass back on Clarke. Once done, Clarke relaxed her back a little bit, and then took the extra shuffle for Raven to take the lime from her mouth. Once that was completed, and she scuttled out from under Raven completely, Raven gave Echo a nod to let her legs free. Then, to complete the show, she pulled her knees in and landed with her feet under her and her hands still on the stools. There was a moment of silence as everyone watched, and then she shot up, fists in the air and grinning with the lime covering her teeth.

Lexa was surprised at how loud the crowd got with their cheering after it had been so quite a second ago, but she just smiled and clapped along as Raven grabbed Clarke's hand and held it up too, before bowing as if they had just finished a Broadway play. Which, in some ways, they really had – not everyone could perform like that. 

Raven spit out the lime, and yelled, “Successful Craven, yet again!” and then gave Clarke a high-five before tossing her her previously discarded shirt. Lexa watched as Clarke slipped her shirt back on and made her way over as she buttoned up, stopping next to Lexa in the space Octavia had previously occupied – after a glance Lexa confirmed O was standing next to Raven again as they talked, seemingly mostly with their hands. 

“So, what did you think of the show?” 

Lexa’s eyes drifted down to watch as Clarke’s hands finished buttoning up, and she raised a brow as she answered, “I feel as though there’s a story behind that performance.” Lexa looked back up to Clarke’s eyes as she finished her shirt and saw Clarke smirking at her.

“Well the story basically comes down to a drunken dare Raven got in college, and her tendency to let her ego make decisions for her.” 

“Hey, my ego makes the best decisions.” Raven had popped back up into the conversation, and Lexa noticed that Echo seemed to have roped Bellamy into doing the next body shot as the table was brought back out. “Besides, I showed that dick-weed Murphy what was what. He wasn’t able to even pull one inverted body shot, and at this point I’ve done dozens.” 

Clarke rolled her eyes, and amused smile on her face, “Yes, I remember; he ended up falling on his face and breaking his nose.”

Raven nodded once, “That’s right.” She turned her gaze to Lexa, “Now, I do believe that it’s your turn to strip.” 

Lexa raised an eyebrow, as Raven smiled cheekily, and Clarke cut in – “What she means to say, is that it’s your turn to do body shots.” She looked at Lexa, “If you feel up to it?”

Lexa smirked at Clarke, “I think I might be.” She looked at Raven, “As long as I don’t have to try recreating that last one.”

Raven’s smile widened, “Nope! All you have to do is lay back and let Clarke do all the work.” She winked and grabbed Lexa’s hand, “Now come on! We’ve got a table to secure.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so I wanted to do something different with Raven and Clarke, and that is what I came up with. I hope it was enjoyable. :) 
> 
> Also, my tumblr account is paigesinafull-length novel if you want to say hi!


	13. The Body Shot You've All Been Waiting For.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clexa body shot finally happens!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO, I've discovered that all of my creativity and motivation to write disappears when I'm in school, ha. Who woulda thought? I'm so very sorry for the sudden hiatus. I will try to be better from now on. Hope you all enjoy the (very late) update! Thanks to everyone who've left kudos and comments, you've all kept me wanting to continue the story ^.^ So please, continue to do so.

Lexa was dragged to the table by Raven, who yelled “Dibbs on next!” just as Echo was taking the lime from Bellamy’s mouth. Echo spared Raven an amused glance as she slowly slid off Bellamy’s chest, dragging the process out to get under Raven’s nerves. It worked. “Ok ok ok, come on Echo, move your ass.” 

Echo popped the lime out of her mouth with a chuckle, “Well now someone is anxious to get back on the table. And after you’ve already hogged most of it tonight.” 

Raven waved her away impatiently, “It’s not for me so shoo.” She waved her hands at Bellamy who was currently propped up on his elbows watching the interaction, “You too, tough guy. Y’all need to leave.”

Bellamy looked on the verge of saying some smartass remark when Lexa cut in, “I wouldn’t try it Bell. She seems pretty serious about getting me on the table.” 

Bellamy just snorted as he rolled off the table and grabbed his shirt that was on the floor, “Good luck with this one Lex. Nice to see we’re all getting the same treatment.”

Lexa nodded, and stage whispered, “I’m pretty sure this is their initiation ritual. We have to have body shots taken off of us before we become one of them.” 

Echo smiled at Lexa as she pulled Bellamy to the side of the circle before he could respond, or even put his shirt back on. Lexa absently wondered how long Echo could stall him before he put it back on. From the look in her eyes, probably awhile. Raven shoved Lexa’s shoulder lightly. “Well come on then, time for YOUR initiation, Miss Sass.”

Lexa looked at her, eyebrows raised, “And what exactly, is it I am doing?”

Rave smiled mischievously, “Easy. All you have to do is lay on your back while Clarke does all the work on top.” She winked, “I’m sure you’re familiar with the process.” 

Lexa was saved from a response when Clarke shooed Raven away “Ok, stop antagonizing my guest Raven.”

“I think you mean ‘stop antagonizing my _date_ ’, Clarke.”

Clarke started pushing Raven into the circle of people, “Stop antagonizing my _date_ , Raven.” With that, Raven smiled happily at the victory and jumped into the circle, rubbing her hands in glee. 

Lexa smiled slightly at Clarke, “So I’m your date, huh?”

Clarke nudged Lexa into sitting position on the table as she answered, “No, Octavia is, I just wanted Raven off my back.” 

Lexa put a hand to her chest in mock offence, “That hurts, Clarke. And here I thought we had something special.” 

Clarke snorted, “Yea, well we WOULD if we weren’t interrupted every god damn time we were having a special moment.” She looked Lexa in the eye, “Now take off your shirt.”

“In front of all these people, Clarke? Kinky.” 

Clarke rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. “Well it’s either take it off or push it up so I can put salt on your stomach.” 

“Octavia had a choice of putting the salt on her collar bone. Don’t I get the same options?”

Clarke eyes flicked back to where Raven was standing, before going back to Lexa, “No. Not really.”

“But what if I want you to lick my collar bone?” 

Clarke leaned in closer, “Listen Lexa, I’m trying to prove something to Raven, so if you could just please take off your shirt, that would be great.”

It was at that point that Raven decided to yell, “Would you two stop eye-fucking already and get on with the damn shot? I’m growing old over here!”

Lexa cocked an eyebrow as she looked over Clarke’s shoulder at Raven. “And what is it that you’re trying to prove to Raven?”

“That you have fantastic abbs. Besides,” she paused and let her eyes rake of Lexa, “I can always lick your collar bone later.”

Lexa looked back at Clarke and smirked, “Well why didn’t you just say so?” With that she grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head in one fluid movement, dropping it to the floor. She looked Clarke in the eye as she leaned back on the table, folding her hands behind her head and crossing her legs at the ankles. She winked at Clarke and then flexed her stomach. 

Clarke smirked at her antics, even though her thoughts were preoccupied with Lexa’s stomach. She shot a glance over her shoulder at Raven, who was grinning and giving her a double thumbs up. She saw Raven turn and say something to Octavia before Clarke focused back on the only partially clothed Trooper. “You all ready?”

“Ready? You’re the one doing all the work. Or so I’ve been told.” 

Clarke smiled, “I just wanted to make sure you are comfy.” With that she swung her leg over one side of the table and settled on Lexa’s hips. 

“Huh, this does feel familiar. Raven was right.” 

Clarke hummed in response as she held out her hand for the salt, which Jasper eagerly supplied. She surveyed Lexa’s stomach briefly, before putting a thin line of salt from above her belly button to below her bra, following the centerline of her abs. She held her hand out again, and this time she was given a lime slice, which she hovered over Lexa’s lips. “Open up.” 

Lexa smiled as she lightly took the lime from Clarke’s fingers with her teeth, feeling the citrus tang hit her tongue. She was vaguely aware of the crowd hooting and hollering around her, but her eyes were focused on Clarke as she scooted lower on her hips, creating some friction between them. Lexa had to concentrate on her breathing or she might end up inhaling the lime, which only doubled in risk factor when Clarke leaned forward to swipe the salt off her stomach with her tongue, while maintaining eye contact. Lexa was the first to break, looking away and up at the ceiling to try to regain control of her breathing. She took a quick glance around the circle of people, which almost made her choke on the lime anyway. Standing next to Octavia, with a look of complete disapproval on her face, was Anya. Lexa diverted her gaze back to Clarke, who had finished with the salt and was reaching for the shot glass, not paying any attention to the crowd. Clarke tossed it back before crawling back up Lexa to reach the lime sticking out of her mouth. If Lexa hadn’t been partially distracted by the feeling of Anya’s eyes boring into her, she probably would have enjoyed Clarke’s slow ascent more. She also probably would have choked on the lime already. 

“Alright, I’m going to take the lime now, ok? Don’t hold on to it too tight.” Clarke’s face was hovering about an inch over Lexa’s, and all she could do in response was quirk an eyebrow. Clarke smiled, saying “Good, glad you understand,” before slowly closing the distance and lifting the lime, but not before she intentionally brushed her lips across Lexa’s, more than was necessary. Clarke sat up and tossed her arms up victoriously, looking around as she grinned with the lime sticking through her teeth. She hopped off Lexa, and picked up the discarded shirt before turning to hand it to Lexa, who was sitting up on the table. She leaned in as Lexa took her shirt back, “Who is that next to Octavia? She looks angry.” Clarke paused as Lexa looked around Clarke at Anya, who had Octavia’s arm slung across her shoulders, “That’s not an Ex is it? Cuse I said not to bring an Ex.”

Lexa smirked, pulling her shirt back over her head “Come on Clarke, can’t you see the family resemblance? That’s my sister.” 

Clarke’s eyes widened, “You’re saying the first impression your sister has of me is licking salt off of you in front of a crowd of people? Shit. Good thing I just had a shot.” 

“Come on, let me introduce you.” Lexa stood up from the table and grabbed Clarke’s hand, pulling her towards Anya as someone else claimed the table behind them. She only dropped her hand when she went in to hug Anya, whispering a ‘be nice’ in her ear while she was at it. “Anya, glad you finally made it. I see Octavia is keeping you company.” She nodded her head towards Octavia. 

Octavia winked at that, “Yep, but she’s all yours now! Good luck!” And then she skipped off to  
find Raven who had at some point disappeared in the crowd. 

Lexa looked solemn and Clarke mentally prepared herself. “Anya, this is Clarke, Clarke, this is Anya.” 

Clarke smiled and stuck her hand out to shake; only dropping it after a moment of Anya looking at her hand like it had just insulted her ancestors, her smile only faltering a smidge. “It’s so nice to meet you, Anya. I’ve heard many good things.”

Anya just stared in silence.

“Did you have any difficulty finding my apartment?” 

Silence.

“So, uh, welcome to the party and I hope you have a good time.” Clarke grabbed at Lexa as she tried to edge away. Direct confrontation she could deal with, but the silent treatment coupled with Anya’s piercing and judgmental eyes was getting under her skin. Maybe that last shot wasn’t so good, after all. 

Before her escape plan could come to fruition, however, Anya turned to Lexa, “Why is the first image I get of this new girl, is of her licking salt off you? Who, might I add, was shirtless in front of a room full of people you don’t know.”

Lexa put her fist to her chin, grabbing her elbow with her other hand and pretended to ponder for a moment, before pointing a finger, “Well, timing, mostly. You really can’t blame us for when _you_ decided to show up, you know.” 

Clarke, watching this exchange, was incredulous. Once again, she spoke without speaking – “What, would you rather have me licking something _else_ off of Lexa’s partially clad body in front of a group of people? ‘Cause I can think of a few things…” 

Lexa was now biting her knuckle as she tried not to snort, and Anya very slowly turned her head back in Clarke’s direction. “Excuse me?”

“I’m just saying. Salt is not very high on the list of ‘risqué substances’ I could be licking off of Lexa.” 

Anya looked back at Lexa, who was trying her best to keep her mirth from showing, and her knuckle was paying the price. “I’m going to mingle. Don’t do anything stupid.” She flicked her eyes over Clarke on the word ‘stupid’ as she stepped away. Lexa lasted ‘till Anya disappeared in the crowd and then burst out laughing, while Clarke stood in shock as she realized what was said. 

“Shit, Clarke, that has to be the best way I’ve seen anyone meet Anya before,” she managed to get out once she caught her breath. 

“Oh. My god. She hates me.” Clarke looked at Lexa, panicked. “She hates me, Lexa. What am I going to do now?” 

“Well, preferably lick something more risqué than salt off me.” 

“Oh my god I implied sexual things _in front of your sister_. Who is terrifying. Lexa, this is not a time for jokes.” 

“Who said I was joking?”

_“Lexa!”_

“Ok ok, calm down, it’s fine, I promise.” Lexa chuckled, rubbing Clarke’s arms, “The fact that she walked away meant you won this round, Clarke. You should be proud. You stunned her.”

“She didn’t look stunned she looked pissed.” 

“Trust me, I know my sister. You threw her a curve ball and she didn’t know how to hit it so she walked.” 

Clarke sighed. “Alright, if you insist.”

“I do. Now come on, let’s go get a drink.”

“I don’t know, a drink is what got me into this mess, you know.” 

“Well I need a drink. I nearly bit my knuckle off trying not to laugh at what you said in front of Anya, you know.” 

“Come on, I can get you some ice if it’s really that bad. I have plans that involve you keeping your fingers.”

“Why Clarke, are you implying something sexual _again?_ Clearly tequila works as an aphrodisiac for you.” 

She turned and looked at Lexa, face blank, “I don’t know what you mean. I was talking about doing some finger paints later. It’s called ‘Drunk Art’ and you get hammered before you paint with your fingers. It’s really fun.”

Lexa wasn’t convinced, “Sounds messy to me.” 

“All the best art is.” She stopped and pulled Lexa closer by the hand, lowering her voice, “Plus, this is one that you can do naked if you want to. Just so, you know, you don’t ruin your clothes.” She winked and pulled Lexa forward again, leaving their hands interlocked as she made her way to the kitchen. 

Lexa shook her head, smile forming. “Sounds fun, can’t wait.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come say Hi on tumblr at paigesinafull-lengthnovel.tumblr.com :)


	14. Aftermath pt 2 (I realized I already had an Aftermath title??)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Party is wrapped up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is basically a few situations I find humorous, I hope you do too ^.^ As always, let me know what you think by leaving a comment!!

It was late before people started disappearing from Clarke’s apartment – either with their DD or the cab Clarke called for them. The last few left were Raven, (who was apparently going to be staying over to help Clarke clean anyway), Lexa, Octavia, and Bellamy. O was somewhere in the kitchen, and Raven and Bellamy chatted on the couch while Lexa and Clarke hovered together by the bathroom. 

Lexa nodded towards Raven and Bell, “So, what do you think about that?”

“About our two overprotective friends seeming to get along?” Clarke shrugged, eyeing them, “It’s better than them being at each other’s throats with a knife, I suppose.”

“Ha, now who would be the one holding the knife, I wonder?” Lexa crossed her arms and grinned, thinking of the possible scenarios. 

“Oh, definitely Raven.” Clarke mimicked her poster and slid her gaze back to Lexa, “I don’t really know Bellamy, but he seems more of a gun guy anyway.” 

“Well you’re not wrong about that,” Lexa mused, and watched as O came out of the kitchen to jump across both Bellamy and Raven’s laps. She looked back at Clarke, “Either way, I’m glad they seem to be getting along.” 

Clarke smiled, “Yea, me too.” She shifted and leaned on her shoulder, facing Lexa with her back to the three on the couch. “Plus I think that means that we’ve both been accepted by our respective new friend groups.”

“So does that mean I can kiss you know?” Lexa asked, their faces inches apart. Clarke’s gaze darted to Lexa’s mouth when she asked the question, before flicking back up to her eyes.

“Well if you’re going to kiss me, you better do it quick.” Lexa’s brow quirked, so Clarke elaborated, “It seems every time we have a moment we’re interrupted – and this seems like a moment, so you should kiss me quick before we’re interrupted.”

Lexa leaned in another inch, “You are right about that,” she scrunched her nose as she flicked her eyes over Clarke’s shoulder to look at the couch people, “Except I think this time, I am going to be the one to ruin it, unfortunately.” 

“What? How?”

“I’m realizing I have a very dry mouth and would not like to taint the kissing experience for me or you.”

“Lexa.” Clarke leaned back a bit and looked at her, “Oh my god, you’re serious aren’t you?”

“Deadly. I had an experience once – not a pleasant one – that involved a dry mouth, two hamsters, half a cheesecake, and a girl I never saw again.” 

Clarke laughed, “Now _that’s_ a story I’d like to hear.”

Lexa smiled slightly at the mirth on Clarke’s face, “I’m glad my suffering amuses you. But maybe you’ll hear it, if you promise not to tell anyone and you help me remedy my current predicament so I can kiss you.”

Clarke snapped to at that, “Yea sure, how can I help?”

Lexa chuckled, “I don’t know what’s got you more excited, the story or the prospect of me kissing you. Either way, if you have a toothbrush I could use that would be great.”

Clarke smiled, “You may never know. Now come on,” She turned towards the bathroom and waved Lexa to follow her, “Let’s find you a toothbrush.”

Clarke pointed to the sink as she started rummaging through a small cabinet by the shower, “If you want and don’t mind sharing, you can use my toothbrush. Or,” her voice got slightly muffled as she stuck her head in the cabinet completely, “you can give me a second and I’ll dig up one of the spares I’m almost certain I have….” 

She trailed off as Lexa ambled up to her sink, finding two different toothbrushes. She glanced back at Clarke, wondering if one was left behind by the Finn era, before idly taking and flipping the vibrating one on while she waited for Clarke to find her a new toothbrush – just in case one _was_ Finn’s. At the sound of the toothbrush, however, Lexa was startled when Clarke let out an ‘Eep!’ followed by a bang that she assumed was her head on the cabinet. She turned and looked at her, as Clarke was rubbing the back of her head with one hand and waved frantically at her with the other one, “No no no not that one!” 

Lexa looked at the toothbrush before flicking it back off and setting it down, “So it is Finn’s,” she said more to herself than to Clarke, not exactly sure how she felt about that discovery. 

Clarke heard her though, and jerked her head back. “What? No. I got all of his shit out of here weeks ago.” She pointed at the toothbrush in question, “That’s mine.”

Lexa looked slightly confused, and pointed at the plain non-vibrating one, “and this one is yours too?” 

Clarke nodded, “Of course.”

“So… why can’t I use the vibrating one? You said I could use your toothbrush if I didn’t mind.” 

“Uh…well, you see,” Clarke paused a moment as her eyes darted around the bathroom, at anything other than Lexa and the toothbrush, “…it’s old. Yea, much too old for you to use it.”

Lexa might have believed that, if it weren’t for two things – one, the bristles hardly looked used, if at all, and two, Clarke’s behavior and the red blush starting to creep up her neck. “You know, it would have been more believable if you had just said it belonged to Raven, if you didn’t want me to use it.” Lexa prodded gently, not wanting to push Clarke but now extremely curious as to why a toothbrush would cause such a reaction. 

Clarke looked at her sheepishly, “Yea, I suppose I could have.”

“So are you going to tell me what it’s for?” She leaned against the sink and gestured at Clarke, “‘Cuse if not, I’d appreciate it if you could finish finding me a toothbrush.” 

Clarke turned a darker shade of red, “It’s just that… Idon’tuseitforbrushingmyteethOK”

Lexa’s lips twitched at Clarke’s rushed and mumbled confession, even if she couldn’t quite understand it, “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

Clarke took a deep breath and avoided looking at Lexa again, “I said, I just don’t use it for my teeth, is all.”

Lexa continued to watch Clarke’s odd behavior, trying to figure out why she was so embarrassed about a toothbrush, “Ok, I don’t see why that was so hard, you could have just said that…” She trialed off as an idea hit her, and Clarke looked back at Lexa when she paused. They made eye contact briefly, and then Lexa looked back at the toothbrush, staring for a second before slowly reaching out and turning it back on and watching the head vibrate, and then flicking it back off. “No…you don’t” Lexa was amused and trying to contain her mirth as she looked back at Clarke again. “Is this for what I think this is for?”

“Well that depends.” Lexa watched as Clarke seemed to steel herself for her next words, “Do you think I use it as a vibrator? Because if so then… yes. That’s how I use it.” 

Lexa lasted about three seconds before she started laughing, “Clarke! Why on earth would you keep this in your bathroom? Unless you’re wanking in the shower, but if that’s the case shouldn’t you keep it in the shower?”

“It’s a toothbrush Lexa! It belongs with the toothbrushes! In the bathroom with the rest of them. Where else would it go?” 

“Probably with the rest of your sex toys in the bedroom, if I had to wager a guess.” At that Clarke said nothing, and just looked at Lexa sullenly. Lexa’s smile faded a bit, “Oh… are you telling me this is all you have in the way of vibrators?” 

“…Maybe.” When Lexa just stared at her in shock, Clarke defended herself, “I don’t like sex shops, ok? They skeeve me out for some reason.” 

Lexa huffed out a laugh, “That’s the beauty of the internet, Clarke; you can order online and have it shipped right to you.” 

Clarke just halfheartedly shrugged, “Why would I do that when my toothbrush works perfectly fine?”

“Well for starters, your guests wouldn’t be tempted to use your sex toys as teeth cleaners. That’s one thing.” 

“Well you’re the only person that’s happened to so far, and as you now know not to use that one, I don’t see this as a regular problem.”

Lexa shook her head, “No, nope. We’re going to fix this. Where is your computer? We can order one right now.” 

Clarke snatched up the toothbrush and cradled it to her chest, “No. I’ll just keep Bertha in my room and that will be the end of it. I’m not going to buy a sex toy while still buzzed on tequila.”

“First of all, Bertha, really? And secondly, buying sex toys while drunk is the best way to do it. But if you don’t want to get one, I won’t push.”

“Thank you.”

Lexa smiled, “But that doesn’t mean I can’t get you one at a later time.” She studied Clarke as she shook her head in amusement, “I’m thinking something small. And in teal.”

Clarke barked out a laugh, “Teal, really? That’s what you came up with?”

Lexa shrugged, “What, I think it’s your color.” 

“Ok Lexa, whatever you say,” she rummaged around in the cabinet again and finally produced a brush still in its wrapping, “Here, get rid of your dry mouth while I go put Bertha in her new spot.” She walked to the door and paused, turning back, “Oh, and Lexa?” Lexa looked up from where she was opening the package, “Sex toys as gifts are not allowed until at least a month of dating.”

Lexa nodded, sharply, “Understood.” Then she smiled, “I can wait.”

Clarke returned the smile before walking away, “Glad to hear it.”

* 

Clarke was doubled over laughing and holding her stomach while sitting on her bed. Lexa had watched her try to keep it in, but by the end of her story she couldn’t anymore. “I can’t believe… she…she, she did that,” her laughter got the better of her as she tried to finish her thought, “with… _hamsters_ , and… and, the _cake_.” 

Clarke was sent into hysterics again, and Lexa watched, amused, and sat next to her on the bed. “To be fair, she was quite drunk at that point, and the cheesecake was asking for it all night.” Clarke waved her hand, as if to dismiss that idea, while she struggled to control her breathing. “You know, if you weren’t so cute, I may have been a little affronted at you for your complete lack of compassion for me here.” 

Clarke took a deep breath, releasing it through her nose, “No, I’m good, I’m good.”

Lexa looked at her skeptically, “You sure?”

Clarke snorted, “Yes I’m sure.” 

“Good, because I’m going to kiss you now.” With that Lexa closed the distance and kissed her, hands coming up to hold Clarke’s head. And then she started to chuckle. Lexa felt it more than heard it, Clarke’s shoulders and chest moving as Clarke struggled to hold it in. Lexa smiled against her lips before leaning back a few inches, “Damn it Clarke, I thought you said you were sure. I was trying to be romantic and seductive here.” 

Clarke took another deep breath, releasing it in a giggle, and then straightening her face, “Ok, this time.” She pulled Lexa back to her mouth and re-initiated the kiss – and she lasted a whole ten seconds. 

This time when Lexa felt Clarke shaking, she couldn’t help but find the absurdity of the situation humorous and started to chuckle herself. She leaned her forehead against Clarke’s, still holding her face, as both of them laughed. “You know at this rate, we won’t need our friends to ruin our moments, we’re doing it ourselves.” Lexa opened her eyes to look at Clarke, who was already looking at her. From this close angle, Lexa could truly appreciate how blue Clarke’s eyes were. 

Clarke hummed, “Is it really ruining our moments, or is it creating new ones?” 

Lexa’s smile turned soft as they continued to stare at each other, “I like that outlook, Ms. Griffin.”

Clarke’s eyes fell partway closed, “I’ve told you not to call me that, you know. It does… things, ok.”

Lexa’s smile grew. She decided not to bring up what ‘things’ it did to her now, but would definitely be saving that information to use at a later date. “Well then you better stop me from talking. Now if _only_ there was _something_ else my mouth could be – ”

She didn’t get to finish her sentence because Clarke’s lips where on her own again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ps. I thought of the toothbrush scene a while back, and I finally was able to work it in, so I hope you guys enjoyed it :D
> 
> You can find me on tumblr @paigesinafull-lengthnovel if you want to say hi :) 
> 
> Thanks for reading!! You guys are the best.


	15. Not-So-Drunk Art

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Painting is supposed to happen - but it doesn't really happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has, without a doubt, been the toughest one for me to write. Contains smut. (at least my attempts at writing it). It's also the final chapter in this installment. I hope you enjoy!

The following Saturday Lexa found herself knocking on Clarke’s apartment door yet again, standing in an old grey tee-shirt and black running shorts. This time she didn’t have any chips – just the extra change of clothes she was instructed to bring. 

It didn’t take long till Clarke answered, wearing a big grin along with a paint splattered white shirt and matching jean cutoffs. “Lexa! You’re right on time, I’m just finishing getting ready, come on in.” She waved Lexa inside as she closed the door, and Lexa scanned the area for a third time. No remnants of the party remained from Wednesday, but her attention was mostly drawn to the large foam mat that lay in the center of the living room floor. 

Lexa pointed with her chin, “Have you been practicing your break-dancing, Clarke?” She looked over her shoulder and grinned as Clarke came up beside her, “Because if you have, I’d like to see your progress.” 

“Ha, ha, no, Miss Jokester, I have not been practicing my break-dancing – as if I need to practice, pff.” 

“Oh, so you really can break-dance, Clarke?” 

“Of course.” Clarke walked into the living room and picked up a large plastic sheet, “I break something nearly every time I dance.” She winked as she spread it over the mat.

Lexa stared at the plastic, “Well now, how messy do you expect this to be?”

“It’s better to over prepare than to under achieve, as my Granny always use to say.” 

“Uh, I’m sorry Clarke, but I’m not sure that that saying makes any sense at all.”

Clarke shrugged, “Yea, but it’s an honored Griffin tradition to make up sayings to pass down through the generations.” She looked at Lexa as she stood up again, “Not all of them make sense or are even helpful, but that’s the beauty of it.” 

“An honored Griffin family tradition, huh? Do you have one to pass down?”

Clarke walked over to her kitchen counter and picked up some tubes of paint before coming back and placing them on the edges of the plastic, “Well not quite yet, no.” She gestured for Lexa to come stand on the plastic with her and smiled, “But I’m brainstorming a few.”

Lexa stepped onto the mats and plastic, “Oh yea? Maybe I can help. What are your best brainstorms?” 

“Well one is ‘You may be the Chancellor, but I’m in charge’, and another is ‘Right now, they think only one of us is scared’.” 

Lexa nodded, “Well I can see where both get their merits – although I’m not exactly sure why you’re calling someone a ‘Chancellor’ in the first place, or who ‘they’ are.”

“Like I said, they don’t have to make sense. Besides, it rolls off the tongue nicely.” Clarke selected a tube of paint, “Now take off your shirt.”

~

Lexa had Clarke pinned on her back, paint partly smeared over her torso as she held Clarke’s wrists – and paint smeared hands - away from her body.

Clarke huffed a laugh, “Come on, don’t tell me The Big Tough Trooper is scared of a little more paint, is she?” 

“Clarke it’s _cold_. I don’t like cold.”

“So cold you couldn’t hold still for five seconds without flipping us over?”

“Well I don’t see _you_ shirtless and covered in cold paint, so no. I couldn’t.” 

“Fine, let me up and I’ll take my shirt off and you can paint on me, seeing as you’ve already ruined what I was going to do any way,” Clarke said with a hint of disapproval as she looked at the dark blue smeared in a streak across Lexa’s abs. It was going to be such a pretty night sky, too. 

Lexa got a twinkle in her eye as she grinned, and leaned back, pulling Clarke with her a bit. “Deal. Lift up your arms.” 

“Excuse me?”

“Sit up and keep your arms out, I’ll help so you don’t get paint on everything.” 

Clarke sighed and rolled her eyes as she complied, “You realize that’s why I told you to wear clothing you wouldn’t mind getting ruined, right? My clothes are no different, you know.”

“Ummhumm, of course.” Lexa grabbed the hem of Clarke’s shirt as she started to drag it over her body, only to stop when Clarke’s mouth and nose were free, leaving the shirt stuck on her head, covering her eyes and tangled around her upper arms. 

“Hey Lex, you know the shirt’s still _on_ , right? I can’t really see right now,” she waved her arms around fruitlessly above her head where the shirt had them trapped, “or get my arms free.”

“But Clarke, _I_ can see, and I’m quite enjoying the view.” She was, Clarke was always lovely, but Lexa especially enjoyed it when she was sans shirt. “You know,” she paused and breathed into Clarke’s ear as her hands hovered over Clarke’s chest, not touching but close enough that Clarke could most likely sense they were there, “It would be a shame if you ruined such a nice bra with paint. You mind if I take it off for you?” 

Clarke let out a breathy laugh, “Ever the thoughtful person, aren’t you?” Lexa grinned as she nipped at the ear she was talking to though the shirt. Clarke shivered a little at the contact, “Go ahead. If you can get it off while my arms are still stuck above my head, that is.”

Lexa leaned back a bit, “hum, I see your point. That is quite the dilemma. Well,” she moved forward and reached around Clarke, unhooking her bra in one easy motion, “We’ll just have to improvise, won’t we?” With that she pushed Clarke back down fully, and then raised her bra up over her chest, and up her arms as far as it would go, entangling it with the shirt and making it even more difficult for Clarke to move her arms. “There, all out of the way.”

“Yea, for you maybe. Are you forgetting that I still can’t see? Or move my arms?”

“Not at all. I remember just fine.” Lexa leaned lower over Clarke as her hands started exploring all the exposed skin, her mouth hovering over Clarke’s, “Maybe I don’t want you to be able to see the art I’m going to make right away, Clarke. Maybe I don’t want you moving your arms and ruining it.”

Clarke inhaled as she felt the warm breath brush her lips, as Lexa’s hands grazed the sides of her breasts. “Fair enough, I’ll try not to ruin any of your art then.”

“Good, thank you.” With that, Lexa closed the gap and kissed her, nibbling and sliding her tongue along Clarke’s bottom lip at the same time her hands moved to Clarke’s nipples, rolling them in her fingers, causing Clarke to inhale and arch into the touch. When Clarke opened her mouth to breath, Lexa took the opportunity to slip in and tease Clarke’s tongue with her own, starting a back and forth between them. 

Lexa didn’t indulge in Clarke’s mouth long before running along her jaw to her neck, and sucking on the soft spot below her ear. 

Clarke hummed in pleasure, “Not that I’m complaining or anything, but I’m not sure you’re understanding the concept of ‘Art’ here, Lexa.” 

Lexa smiled into Clarke’s skin as she replied, “Don’t worry, I’m just getting warmed up. I’m familiarizing myself with the canvas, you know.”

Clarke nodded once as Lexa’s head traveled down toward Clarke’s right breast, “Good point – carry on.”

“Gladly.” With that, Lexa sucked Clarke’s nipple into her mouth, rolling it around her tongue as her left hand cupped Clarke’s head, thumb running along her jaw, and her right hand played with Clarke’s left nipple. One last twist to each, and Lexa switched her mouth and hands, giving each breast equal attention, while her hand kneaded the soft flesh.

“So if this is the warm up, when’s the actual art going to be happening?”

Lexa was happy to note that Clarke’s voice was a little breathy and uneven, causing Lexa to leave her tits and kiss her senseless while she held her head in her hands. When she came up for air, she finally sat back, scooting off of Clarke some, causing her to frown – “well Clarke, I’m so glad you asked. But before I can get started,” She tugged on Clarke’s paint splattered cut-offs, “these will have to come off. For art.”

“Well if it’s in the name of art, please, be my guest. Who am I to stand in the way of art?” She said as she arched her hips off the floor, giving Lexa the access she needed to unbutton them and slip them off, which she did, along with Clarke’s panties, before she settled on her knees between Clarke’s legs.

Lexa chuckled, holding Clarke’s red lace boy-shorts up, pleased with her discovery. “Well I certainly don’t think we should let these get ruined, should we?” 

Clarke shrugged as best she could with her arms trussed up, “I like my underwear to be sexy, what can I say?” 

“Humm yes, I can see that,” Lexa said as she ran her hand up Clarke’s now bare thigh, stopping at the hip and traveling back down to her knee, “The wrapping has to matched the wrapped, as it were.” 

Clarke squirmed as Lexa watched, a slight red blush forming on her chest, announcing Clarke’s worked up state. “Yea, something like that.”

Lexa smiled as she observed Clarke laid out below her, slightly panting and moving her head side to side, probably hoping to get a look at Lexa, at anything really, that would let her know what was happening. She looked between Clarke’s legs, noticing the wetness that was starting to flow from her waxed pussy, and she felt a similar tug of longing between her own legs. She hummed, “Well Clarke, looks like you’re nearly all warmed up,” she paused, “and I see you weren’t lying about the regular waxing,” with that she swiped her middle finger between Clarke’s inner folds, collecting some juice and causing Clarke to gasp and buck a little at the sudden gesture. Lexa smiled and half closed her eyes, enjoying the silky feel of Clarke’s warm wetness on her finger. “You know, Clarke,” she said as she swirled her finger teasingly around her clit, and watched as Clarke writhed under the slight touches, “I’m a vagina connoisseur, of sorts.”

Clarke let out a breathy laugh, “Oh really. And what’s that? Similar to a food connoisseur, I’m guessing.”

“Well, there is eating involved, certainly. But not food, exactly.” She paused for a moment, as if to contemplate something, “Although you _could_ consider it a dessert, I suppose.”

Clarke hissed as Lexa dipped her finger back into her opening, gathering some more juice and teasing her entrance, “I think I get your meaning.”

“Good. So you wouldn’t mind if I have a taste, would you?”

“Please, do.” Clarke almost whined when Lexa removed her hand, and Lexa smiled at the woman struggling for composure beneath her. 

~

Clarke couldn’t see what was happening, but she could hear Lexa humming with approval and she wiggled back and forth trying to get a glimpse through her shirt to no avail. She felt more than heard Lexa move, and suddenly her voice was in her ear again, low and seductive, as one of her hands continued to massage and tickle Clarke’s lower stomach and thighs. “Clarke, you taste wonderful.” 

“But you didn’t even taste me,” Clarke blurted before her mind could catch up with her mouth. She heard Lexa chuckle throatily in her ear. 

“Of course I did, do you think I would lie about something like that?” Lexa’s chest, still clad in a bra, pressed into Clarke’s as she moved closer, “I could taste you on my finger.” With the hand that was on her stomach she moved down and swiped at her pussy again, and Clarke bit back a whine at the fleeting contact, “Why, what were you expecting, Clarke?”

“You damn well know what I was expecting, Lexa.” Clarke wanted it to come out firm, but she wasn’t sure she captured that with the low quality of her voice. It came out sultry and needy even to her. Damn it. 

“Maybe I do. Maybe I want you to say it.” Lexa’s breath was still in her ear making it hard to think, and the hand that returned to playing with Clarke’s opening wasn’t helping the matter. 

“Lexa.” Clarke tried to control her breathing but knew she was failing, “I want you to taste me with your mouth, not off your fingers.” After a moment of Lexa not changing positions Clarke added, “Please.” 

“Well, since you asked so nicely,” Lexa moved down Clarke’s body, with what seemed like agonizing slowness to Clarke, “I guess I could do that.” Clarke could feel Lexa’s hot breath on her sensitive and wet lower lips and she shuddered again, this time in anticipation as well as need. 

~

Lexa had intended to draw this out more, but she was teasing herself as much as Clarke and after getting a taste, and then breathing in Clarke’s delicious aroma it was too much for her as well. She did manage to give a few light nips to Clarke’s inner thighs, but when she saw that brought a fresh fluid to flow from Clarke’s entrance, she couldn’t hold herself back; she had to have Clarke on her tongue. 

Flattening her tongue, she began with a broad swipe that started at the bottom of Clarke’s opening and made her way up, stopping short of her clit, which was beginning to peek from behind its hood. She dragged her tongue back down, enjoying the taste, and the view she had of Clarke from between her legs; spread out and quivering, every now and then arching and moving about and making noise and crinkling the plastic, to try to get purchase or to get Lexa to go deeper, Lexa wasn’t sure. Probably both. She could also see that Clarke was working to control her breathing, making Lexa want to redouble her efforts. She swirled her tongue around Clarke’s entrance, barley dipping in, before moving to suck on her outer lips, nibbling and licking as she pushed Clarke’s thighs further apart. Clarke responded by pulling her heels in and bracing her feet as her knees fell wide, opening herself to Lexa as much as she could. 

Lexa hummed, smiling, “How considerate of you.” 

“Anything to help,” Clarke all but gasped, as she used her new leverage to buck a little higher into Lexa’s mouth. 

Lexa gave Clarke’s lower lips one more sloppy open-mouthed kiss, before moving to Clarke’s clit. She latched on with her lips encircling her clit and hood, humming and sending vibrations through it as she gently flicked the soft tissue and nerve endings with the tip of her tongue. Clarke arched her back at the sensations, almost dislodging Lexa, but she held on and pushed Clarke’s stomach back down with one hand, while the other one came up to tease her opening, before slowly pushing her middle finger in and feeling Clarke clench around the digit. Lexa shivered at the feeling of Clarke warm and wet surrounding her, before she curled her finger and found her g-spot, stroking it as she continued to slowly lash Clarke’s clit with her tongue. 

Clarke was panting now, a sheen of sweat covering her skin as she mumbled obscenities under her breath, multiple variations of ‘fuck’ and ‘so close’ from what Lexa could hear, so she increased the speed on her clit and stroked her finger faster. She was rewarded for her efforts when she felt Clarke clench and release her finger rapidly, and she watched as Clarke curled forward and slamming back down, causing the plastic to crinkle loudly again, unable to do anything but ride out the waves of her orgasm with her hands still tied and Lexa holding her hips down. 

Lexa slowed her movements, milking Clarke gently through the gush of fluid as she recovered, body no longer thrashing around but still breathing heavy. “Well, fuck,” was all she was able to manage after regaining control of her breathing. 

Lexa chuckled, pleased and now thoroughly worked up herself, “Well fucked indeed.” She leaned back on her heels, seeing Clarke smiling ruefully, arms above her head, knees spread wide, chest flushed, and Lexa’s own finger still buried to the knuckle deep inside her. She sighed, almost mournfully, “Too bad you can’t see this. Beautiful, really.”

“See what? Me in my debauched state? Yea,” she laughed a little, “I’m sure that’s an image for the ages.”

“It is, trust me.” Lexa grinned, “I think my art beats your art.” 

“I am not your art, Lexa.” 

Lexa snorted, slowly withdrawing her finger as she watched Clarke readjusted to the empty feeling. “Art that does not know it is art is still art, Clarke.” She popped her finger into her mouth, licking it clean, enjoying the tangy-salty-sweetness found there, and hummed, “this art even has the added benefit of tasting delicious.” She pushed her face back into Clarke’s pussy and cleaned the rest of her come up in long, gentle strokes. 

Lexa heard Clarke’s breathing hitch at the suddenness of her hot tongue on her still sensitive flesh, but she soon relaxed into the feeling of the slow massage. “I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to eat the art, Lexa.” 

“Well, the wonderful thing about my art, Clarke,” She said as she finished and crawled back up so they were face to face, “Is that even if it gets finished or ruined,” she started tugging on the shirt till Clarke’s eyes were finally free, even if her arms were not, “I can always start over. And that’s why my art is better.” She gave her a lopsided grin, presenting her face – eyes blown dark and wide with desire, cocky smile and the remnants of come still on her chin – as the first thing Clarke was able to see. 

Clarke got a determined and challenging look on her face, “Oh, you haven’t even seen my art yet, Lexa.” 

“Mmm, and I look forward to seeing it.” She eyed Clarke’s hands, still smeared in cerulean blue, “But first, I think a shower’s in order for you.” She grinned down at Clarke, “Because you’re kind of a fantastic mess.” 

Clarke huffed, “Fine, I’ll shower, but only because you’re too childish for me to actually paint at the moment.” She wiggled her arms, “Now free me, childish wrench.” 

Lexa raised an eyebrow, “Childish is not how I would describe what just happened. Besides, I’m not the one who resorted to name calling.” Clarke stuck her tongue out and Lexa chuckled as she reached out to help free Clarke, “Yes, I am definitely the one acting out here.” Once the shirt and bra were successfully off, Lexa mock bowed her head and flung out her arms. “Milady. I hope my services have been up to your standards.”

Clarke put on a haughty expression while she stretched her arms about, “They were passable. For a peasant.”  
Lexa raised her head, earnest expression on her face, “Well now, I am just happy to serve Queen Clarke in any humble way I can. It’s an honor for such a lowly one as I to perform any menial task I can.”

They kept their expressions, earnest and haughty, for a few more seconds before both busted out laughing. Clarke spoke first, “Oh, so eating me out was a ‘menial’ task was it? So sorry to have you make such a sacrifice, although you seemed pretty eager to carry it out.”

Lexa shrugged, “I was playing along, thought it was appropriate.”

“Well I don’t know about that being appropriate, but I did like being called ‘Queen Clarke’. Has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”

“Of course you’re a Queen.” Lexa sat up straight and put a hand to her chest, “After all, I only date the very best, and Royalty is certainly up there.”

“Ha, so what’s that make you then?”

Lexa stood up and stretched her arms over her head, “Me? Well I’m the Commander, obviously. You know that.” 

“Right, well help me up Commander, I’ve got a hot shower to get to.” Lexa grabbed Clarke’s outstretched hand and pulled her up, bringing their bodies flush against each other. “It’s like a regular shower, but with me in it.”

Lexa grinned, “Well I can’t argue with that logic.”

Clarke turned and walked towards the bathroom, “No, you really can’t.” She paused when she got to the door and looked over her shoulder at Lexa, who hadn’t moved to follow her – well, except for her eyes which where currently on her ass. Clarke smirked, “Well are you going to stand there staring all day or are you going to join me?”

Lexa’s grin widened as she brought her eyes back up to Clarke’s face, stepping forward and reaching to unhook her bra in the process, “I thought you’d never ask.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, I hope you all enjoyed it! =) Your comments are always welcome!


End file.
